I'll Come Up With a Title Later
by Foxtails0
Summary: This is the third  and probably final  book in my little series that began with How My Personal World Imploded, then continued in another story with a long name, and finally is coming to an end. Once again, rated T for language and violence. R&R, please!
1. It Begins, Again

**A/N: Um, okay, so, yeah. This is Book Three in my lovely little series which has no name… ooh, I can call it a trilogy, can't I? If you haven't read HMPWI or HTTRI (don't ask, there's no way I'm typing out both those titles) then I command you to go to my profile and begin HMPWI ****immediately.**

** This, my friends, is THE story. I've got three of my best characters narrating, even though you barely know two of them and I'll bet you hate the other one. So without further ado, let's get going, and please put your hands together for Miss Regina Daniels… you didn't really think I was going to abandon her, did you?**

**Gina POV**

Okay, so picture this.

A modest, beautiful, very blond girl is sneaking through an unfamiliar area with "borrowed" keys jingling merrily in her hand, approaching a cabin at about three in the morning, hoping desperately that the numerous teenagers inside are actually asleep at a decent hour.

I opened the door to the Kronos cabin and immediately muttered a curse. I'd forgotten Jack was in here – how did I forget that? So I had to wake up one person but not the other. Great.

"Anthony," I hissed, shaking his shoulder. "Come on, Anthony, wake up."

He buried his face in the pillow. "Go away, Rose."

I recoiled, almost insulted. "Hey, dipwad, it's Gina."

He was up so fast he hit his head on the bunk above him. I tensed immediately, knowing that Penelope was up there, and she's not exactly a heavy sleeper, last I checked.

"Gina?" he whispered. He let his head sink back into the pillow, but he turned toward me. "I thought you were gone."

"Not yet I'm not," I said under my breath. "Can you drive me to the airport? Please?"

He nodded sleepily. "What time is it?"

I checked my phone, trying to block the glow from Jack's side of the room. I would risk waking up Nick or Penelope, but no way in hell was I waking up Jack. I'd never get out of here, especially if they thought I was already gone.

"Almost four," I said softly.

"How're we gonna get there?"

I jingled Bunny's keys. "I already thought of that."

"Money?"

"Ker. I have enough for one ticket to Vermont."

He sat up. "Go get the car started. I'll be there in a second."

xxx

"I want to drive you as far as possible. Get you partway across Montana, at least."

"Why?" I asked, surprised.

He stared out the window, even though there was nothing to stare at, considering what time it was. "I don't know. I just need to get out of here for a few hours. And anyway, my aunt works at a restaurant in North Dakota. We should get there at about noon tomorrow." He looked at me and grinned. "I have to warn you, Gina. I'm not the best driver. There's a reason I followed you guys in a suitcase instead of a car."

"Would that reason be that you don't have a car?"

"Partly."

He paused for a second before he started moving the car, and I remembered hearing how his dad rarely drove anywhere. That was all I'd heard, though. Anthony and Aiko had arrived at camp as the cliché young siblings you heard about in books – one grew up fast so the other didn't have to. Anthony had been the one to grow up.

He didn't act like it sometimes, but when he was little, he'd been the most serious person ever. His friendship with Eric had helped that a little, but when Daphne came flying into the picture, Eric kind of ditched him and he'd retreated to Aiko again. I didn't remember him having any close friends besides Aiko ever since the Eric thing ended.

"You know," I mused. "Nina thinks you're some cocky popular-type boy, doesn't she?"

He froze.

"She's wrong," I continued. "Just show her that you're actually kinda sweet and kinda nice, because you're not some cocky popular-type boy."

"I should've figured you were going to give me this lecture," he snapped.

"Sorry."

He glanced at me, a biting look in his eyes. "Well you know what? You let some girl get between you and Jack."

My turn to freeze up. "It wasn't just one girl. It was, like, five."

"And he couldn't see any of them. He only saw you, and you ditched him for it."

"I couldn't take it anymore."

"Five girls?" He continued on as if I had never spoken. "Oh, Gina, if you only knew how jealous I am of him. I'm the son of Aphrodite, aren't I supposed to have all the girls just by default? But no. He's the son of _Percy Jackson, _oh my gods, let's go hit on him."

"Wait." I fought a smile. I was losing. "You don't like Jack because of… _girls_?"

He blushed. "I know it sounds stupid. It wasn't like I wanted you or Adrianna or Poppy or anything, but it was just the principle of the thing, you know?" He laughed bitterly. "You're the one who's wrong, Gina. I _am _just some cocky popular-type boy."

We were silent until we reached a sign saying _Welcome to North Dakota._

xxx

Mike's wasn't a huge place, just a little tavern with a couple of booths and a cozy feel. Our waitress was a woman with eyes the color of milk chocolate and long brown hair. She looked like an older version of Aiko.

"A little far from home, aren't you, Anthony?" she asked, laughing. "And who's this? Your girlfriend?"

He blushed, and I felt my own face heating up too. "No, Aunt Shelley, just a friend."

She smiled at me. "Hi, honey. I'm Shelley Luck, but you can call me Shelley. How did you and Anthony"-she eyed me carefully–"meet?"

Clearly not buying "just a friend."

"Where's your sister?" Shelley asked. "She's… okay, right?"

Anthony glanced at me, and I remembered Aiko's recent outbursts. "She's fine," he lied.

Shelley smiled. "Tell her I said hi. Can I get drinks for you kids?"

"Yeah," Anthony said eagerly. "Can I have coffee?"

Shelley glared at him. "I'll get you a Mountain Dew, but only because you look like you haven't slept well for days." She turned to me. "Anything for you, sweetheart?"

I smiled. "Just Coke, thanks."

She looked at her nephew, seeming concerned. "I'm sorry about what happened to your father."

Anthony's face fell and he sighed. "It was a long time ago, I guess."

Shelley scribbled our drink orders onto her little pad of paper and strutted off.

"What's worse is that she's right," Anthony muttered. "I haven't slept well for a week."

I bit my lip. I knew he was stressed about Aiko and Nina. It seemed like he and Aiko had drifted apart quickly, and Aiko was desperately trying to keep the little strings keeping them together intact before they broke, too.

I wasn't sure what had happened to his dad, but about half the kids at Camp Half-Blood I had known since I was little, because so many of us had parents that had died, like Nick's mom – and Nina's, now that I thought of it, or left us, like Katy's dad. Or some of us ran away. Like me.

Shelley arrived with the drinks, and we thanked her. Anthony looked awkward, and there was a long silence before he said, "Um, it wasn't very… public… what happened with my dad, was it?"

I blushed and nodded.

"My dad was a fan of alcohol for my entire life, but when I was nine or ten he really got into it, and…." He shrugged. "I dunno, it just seemed like suddenly a bottle of beer became more important than Aiko or I, so… I dunno. We just kind of ended up at camp somehow."

I was quiet, a little surprised, but Anthony was determined to change the subject.

"So," he said, glaring at me with his chocolate-brown eyes hard and steely for once. "We decided who the seven were in the prophecy today."

I looked at him, a silent, pleading question in my eyes.

"Yeah, he's going. You knew that already, though."

I nodded and sipped my Coke. If Jack had backed down from a fight, everyone would always see him as the non-Percy, or at least more so than they already did. That was his worst nightmare – not living up to his dad's legacy. Of course, I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was already living that nightmare. He didn't notice what other people thought of him, a quality that I envied whenever I noticed Rose glaring at me.

Speaking of prettier-than-me girls glaring at me. Anthony and I stared out the window, watching popular-type girls stroll by with their friends (or rather, their disciples, groupies, sycophants, minions, followers, fanatics, clones, and worshippers.) They kept their eyes on Anthony, except for the occasional dirty look shot at me.

I glanced at Anthony, amused. He was looking at me with a smirk on his face and a glow in his eyes. A particularly cheerleader-y girl looked me over dismissively, and we cracked up.

"Thanks, Anthony," I said sincerely.

"What for?"

"For driving me this far. Just… thanks."

"Anytime, Gina. And trust me, I'm not about to go running to Jack telling him about all this."

I grinned. "If he wants to know where I am, make him drag it out of you."

He grinned back. "With pleasure."

**A/N: Alright, yeah. You may have noticed that Gina's first part of the story occurs while the demigods are still in Montana. This chapter probably occurs after the scene in HTTRI in the tent with Bunny fixing her hair and Bellatrix throwing the w-word around, and before, obviously, the scene where Anthony returns the keys to Bunny. The rest of Gina's POV will occur at present time, or just about.**

** Okay, the next couple chapters might be delayed, since I'm playing around with the ordering of the next few POV-changes. Plus, I don't like the next chapter.**


	2. Poppies, Roses, and Sage

**A/N: Let's just get on with the story. I really only use these author notes to tell where one chapter ends and the next begins in the word document.**

** Sorry if I get into present tense with this chapter. I keep having to switch back to past tense for some reason.**

** I'm not only bending the rules of the Underworld, I'm ****TOTALLY SLAUGHTERING THEM WITH AN AXE.**** And then lighting their remains on fire.**

**Gina POV**

"Who're you?" the Adrianna look-alike asked me.

It had been a mistake to ring the doorbell. I should have just walked in. It was my house, after all.

Yeah, my house. As in my father's and his wife's house in southern Vermont.

But back to the Adrianna look-alike. It wasn't that she looked similar to my least favorite redhead _physically_, like they were siblings or something. Actually, she had my green eyes and blond hair. But she carried around the same aura of icy indifference that Adrianna always had around me, especially with the relatively recent Jack development. And I mean attaining the high status which is Jack Chase's Girlfriend, not the low status as Local Idiot who Dumped Jack Chase. Rose was the only girl to have any right to reject him, because she was so pretty. They were in the same league.

To get back to the topic, the resemblance to Adrianna was _really _not helping my mood.

"I'm Gina Daniels, and this is my house. Who're _you_?" I snapped.

The girl's eyes widened and she stopped chewing her gum.

"Mom!" she shouted.

"She's not home," another voice called from inside the house.

"Of course," the girl muttered, rolling her eyes. Oh yeah, she was Adrianna all over. She raised her voice again. "Marcia!"

A small brunette, no more than nine or ten, came trotting up, and suddenly I remembered who Marcia Daniels was.

Marcia perked up. "Hey, Sandi, it's Gina!"

"You remember me?" I asked incredulously. "You were only one when I left!"

"She was two," Sandi said. Her voice had the same edge that mine did – an edge that cut a person up. Sandi's edge was sharper than mine, and judging by what Katy's told me, that's saying something.

Yeah, Sandi and Marcia are my dad's "normal" daughters with his "normal" wife, and I guess I hadn't expected to see them.

"Dad'll kill us if we don't let you in," Sandi grumbled.

I took the hint and stepped in the front door. _My _front door.

xxx

I hummed cheerily. Like any good daughter of Demeter, the first thing I did when I got "home" was to take a little trip to my old garden. My next-door neighbor, Janine Woods, had been only twelve when I ran away, but she'd been taking care of my garden ever since.

Like any terrible daughter of Demeter, I had those huge evil gardening things that resemble giant scissors that are used to prune roses in my hand. All of my siblings thought anything used to kill plants was the spawn of the devil, so I didn't even know what it was called.

By the time I was done, all my rose bushes were pathetic, my sage was torn up and tossed aside, and the poppies were long gone.

I looked around the backyard. A couple of birds were pecking at worms in the soil. A squirrel had taken the slice of bread I'd brought out to feed to the birds, and now he was struggling to climb a tree with such a load. A couple of other squirrels watched him from a branch high up in the tree, no doubt waiting for him to drop the bread and leave it. A black-and-white cat watched the squirrel with big yellow eyes.

Don't get me wrong – I hate Vermont. But it was pretty.

**Freddy POV**

"No, that's okay. You go first."

The little old lady smiled at me sadly. "A little young to be dead, aren't you?"

"I guess so."

"A shame." She frowned before going ahead of me in line. "Thank you."

"Have fun," I muttered. She smiled again. I turned to the next woman in line.

"You can go-"

She scratched the back of her head. She was in her early thirties, maybe late twenties, with thick blond curls, streaked with gray, cascading to her shoulders. She cut me off. "I don't want to go ahead of you."

I stared at her, startled. People had been going ahead of me in this line for months, eager to get to judgment. Everyone assumes they're going to Elysium, except for me. I knew where I was going.

"I'm a first, aren't I?" She grinned. "I've already been here. It gets boring after a while." She put a hand on one hip and surveyed the area with cold eyes the color of ice. "Say, why aren't _you _so eager to be judged?"

I furrowed my brow. "Um. Well, I already know where I'm going."

"Oh? And where's that?"

"Asphodel. I don't want to go."

"I'm headed to Tartarus myself. Not too eager to get there either."

Of course, that right there should've been a warning, but I was way too hopeful and eager and dreamy and stupid.

There was silence for a while, almost an hour, maybe. I was used to it. The Underworld is a quiet place. "Hey, kid," she said suddenly. "I happen to know my way around the Underworld. You especially eager to go on a little field trip with me?" She smirks, revealing sharp canine teeth. "I know for a fact that Hades isn't here, and an old… friend of mine is. She owes me quite a favor." She picked up on what I was about to say and cocked her head. "Why're you so eager to get out of here, kid? Most people are tired, weary, after they die, so they stay here." Then she grinned. "You have a girlfriend out there, don't you?"

I shook my head. "I've got a friend I want to get back to. Her name's Ker and she's probably missing me like crazy."

Surprise flamed in her eyes briefly. "And do you… you know, _like _her or something?" Odd question. Must've been another one of those hopeless romantic types. Most of the Aphrodite girls were – Myrtle especially. I missed Rose. She was always saying how love was the only reason anyone did anything.

Of course, I couldn't mention that to an ordinary mortal, so I said, "Well, no." Then I added, "I like her and all, but we're no Jack and Gina," just out of habit. That was a common phrase around camp, as long as we were out of Jack's earshot. And heaven forbid that it be uttered within ten miles of Gina.

She surprised me by laughing and saying, "Nobody is, kid. Nobody is."

**A/N: Sorry, I meant to give Freddy a whole chapter to himself, but I wanted you to have some time to process what's going on with him, because it's really confusing and complicated. Also, I am so very sorry for breaking a ton of Underworld rules.**


	3. Proud Hater of Percy Jackson

**A/N: You're all going to hate me for this one.**

**Rose POV**

"Where do we go?" The impression of NYC had worn off on Senka, and she was eyeing Camp Half-Blood with a bored, blank expression on her face. Nina glanced at Anthony apologetically.

"Um." Anthony was suffering from being somehow placed into a sort of leader position, and he looked down on camp helplessly, scanning the twenty cabins.

"The Hades cabin is almost empty," Nina said helpfully.

Nick and Penelope exploded.

"I'm not letting _him _in there," Nick said, a sharp, cutting edge to his voice.

"Yeah, leave it to you to come up with something like that," Penelope growled.

Anthony looked like he wanted to retort, but Nina shook her head. "I'm sorry. It was a bad idea. I didn't mean any disrespect."

"Yeah, right," Penelope muttered.

"Shut up, okay?" Nina snapped. "I said I was sorry. Sunshine's the only one in there now, and I'm just trying to be efficient."

"Efficient?" Penelope screeched. "I'll give you _efficient._ Why don't we send you back to Montana?"

"Penn, leave her alone," Jack said softly. "Come on, you know she didn't mean anything."

Penelope looked like she was going to turn on him, but Aiko finally stepped in.

"Hey, Penelope," she said, half nonchalant and half threatening. "Lay off my brother's girlfriend, okay? She doesn't want _him_ defending her, but she can't tell _me_ what to do." She smirked, hint of menace in the casual expression.

Nina beamed. Aiko's opinion of her had taken quite a leap in the last few days, but no one had noticed, because no one knows Aiko like Anthony and I do, and Anthony had been… preoccupied.

Of course, Maia and Myrtle came sprinting up the hill, tripping over their own feet in the hurry to come see us.

Myrtle's gaze immediately fixed on Anthony with his arm around Nina. "Aw, Maia, look. We lost."

Myrtle scowled, and pulled a ten-dollar bill out of her pocket. She handed it to me. "You win."

Maia was a bit more of a sore loser. She handed the bill to Aiko as if it was a part of her soul. "You suck."

"We have worse news," Adrianna said cheerily. "You guys owe Anthony twenty bucks."

She was wrong, of course, since the old bet had ended, and Jack and Gina, well, they obviously had not, but as you know, Jack's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he was fed up with us teasing him about it. Poor Jack.

"Oh, that's it," Jack snapped. "You had to bring that up, Adrianna. You know what? I'll walk to Vermont if I have to."

Maia's eyes immediately flooded with a look of alarm. "Where's Gina?"

Gina's half-sister, Erin, picked this moment to come hurrying up the hill, black ponytail bouncing. Except for the wildness in her coffee-colored eyes, she looked almost exactly like her mother. "Where's Gina?"

"She's fine," Jack said, in a clipped voice that he only used when he was tired of something. Erin glanced at me, and I shook my head, hoping she'd understand it was useless pursuing the subject with him.

"Wait…." Maia eyed Jack suspiciously. "If Jack's here, and Gina's not… that means…"

"I need to get away from you people," he muttered. He headed in the direction of the Poseidon cabin.

Adrianna started to go after him, but Camille grabbed her wrist. "Let him go. He'll be fine."

xxx

"I'm still really kind of confused," Nina admitted.

"What about?" Anthony asked casually. He cracked open a diet Coke and handed it to me. The Aphrodite cabin always had plenty of diet Coke. Maia and I were addicted.

Nina carefully opened her own can. "Well… do you remember something Penelope said to Reed?"

I laughed. "Penelope said a _lot _of things to Reed."

Nina scowled, and then my laughter faded and I remembered what she was talking about.

_You were wrong. You were wrong, Reed Winston. It wasn't her oath, it was mine, and I'm not letting her die for it._

Anthony seemed to have come to the same realization that I had.

_An oath to keep with final breath…_

Someone had to have a talk with Penelope.

**Freddy POV**

The blond woman had led us out of line and out into the wilderness of the Underworld. It was hazy, gray, and gave me the creeps. At least in line, there were other people to talk to. I always felt safe around other people, people I knew. I always knew I was safe around my sisters, because Camryn could kick ass and Camille could pull water out of thin air. I'd felt totally safe with Rose on our quest. I guess that didn't work out for me.

"So how do you know who Jack and Gina are?" I asked.

"Hm, how do I say this? Jack Chase and Gina Daniels make a good couple, let's leave it at that."

I stopped to stare at her. "Who _are _you?"

Her blue eyes glinted angrily. "Look, kid, I can't tell you that. I want to set you loose to Ker, and you can't be telling her or any of your other friends that I'm back in action." She cocked her head. "Come to think of it, who're _you_?"

I grinned sheepishly. "I'm Freddy."

She did a double take. "Freddy _Masen_? Masen with an e?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah. That's what my mom always says. Masen with an e."

She smiled back. "Your sisters miss you like hell, kid."

xxx

"Absolutely not."

"I'm not asking, Persephone. I'm only opening a door for you."

The blond woman – she still hadn't given me anything to call her – had led us to a dark, haunting set of thrones. The tall, beautiful woman we'd found there had black hair that fell to her hips, and a black dress that showed off her features.

"Um…" I attempted to grab the blonde's attention, but Persephone's eyes glinted angrily.

"For Hades's sake, kid, just call her Raksha!" She folded her arms and scowled.

"No way in hell. I'm done with that." Raksha, or whoever, spun around to face me. "I'm not playing _that _game again. My name is Bunny Parker, and that's the name I was born with, kid. I'm a daughter of Apollo, I have a crush on the god of death, I'm not ashamed to say it, I'm the only demigod in existence to have trouble with Ancient Greek, and I know the Underworld inside and out." She smiled, grabbed my hand, and shook it vigorously while I stared at her, stunned. "Proud hater of Percy Jackson for twenty-three years and counting."

"Now that we've cleared that up," she said cheerfully. "Persephone, I'm dead. If your husband doesn't stop me, I'm going to find a way out of here and walk right out." She grinned. It was an expression that held hints of giddiness and menace. "And better yet, I know something. Your husband won't stop me."


	4. Bunny the Giant Dog Sympathizer

**A/N: I have a confession to make: Freddy's last name, Masen, is inspired by Edward Cullen's mother, whose name was, if I remember correctly, Elizabeth Masen. I had a character a couple years ago named Emma Masen and I recycled the last name (and the first name for the Masen siblings' mom.)**

**I SHOULD SO MAKE A DAUGHTER OF APOLLO NAMED MADONNA.**

**Freddy POV**

Our trip to Persephone had proved fruitless, so Bunny dragged me off in a different direction. She seemed to be debating which way to go.

Suddenly she grabbed my shoulder and stopped walking.

"We've got company," she muttered.

"Guards?" I whispered back. I instinctively reached for my sword, then remembered that I'd left it on Ogygia with Rose.

She shook her head. I glanced ahead and noticed the figure she was looking at. It was the shape of a big, three-headed dog, and a couple of kids nearby.

One of the kids looked over and noticed us. "Hey!" she shouted. "Come over here and help us, will you?" She turned to her friend. "Danny, you idiot! I told you not to wander off."

"You're the idiot, Melissa," he replied, holding a dagger defensively in front of him. "I'm Mike."

"Liar!"

He grimaced. Melissa crept behind him, so they were back to back. The giant dog growled. Danny tensed, but Melissa pulled out her sword. It was a long, glimmering blade made from Celestial bronze. She was a demigod.

Melissa seemed to remember us. "Hey, you two! Can you see him?"

Bunny didn't respond, but I nodded. "Can't you?"

She shook her head. "Not yet… soon, but not soon enough." She clenched her teeth.

"Why not?"

"We're not dead. Cerberus becomes more obvious as a person gets closer to death."

"Well, he's to your right, Melissa."

"Thanks!" She turned to her right and prepared to stab Cerberus.

Bunny finally reacted. "No!" she shrieked, running to the huge dog. I followed, at a slower pace.

Melissa cocked her head. "Why not?"

Bunny ignored her, stroking the middle head's muzzle. "Cerberus, baby, did these people try to hurt you?" she crooned.

Melissa and Danny stared at her incredulously.

"_What_?" I asked, shocked.

"Cerberus is nice." Bunny smiled. The smile quickly spread into a grin. "He likes me. Hardly anyone likes me."

I felt a stab of sympathy. She looked like a little girl, if it weren't for her aging face and gray-streaked hair.

Danny's arms fell to his sides, and he loosened his grip on his knife. He glanced at Melissa, who narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on her weapon.

"Mel, it's okay," he said softly.

She frowned and dropped her weapon. "Only you, Danny. Don't you dare let your brother call me that, ever."

He grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it, Mel."

Melissa's eyes hardened again. "Who are you two?"

"Dead," Bunny replied sharply.

"I'm Freddy, and this is Bunny," I said. "Are you two demigods?"

Bunny glared at me. I shrugged and grinned sheepishly.

Melissa chuckled. "Close enough. We're half-titans. I'm a daughter of Pallas, and Danny here is one of the Leto twins."

Bunny's eyes doubled in size. "Son of Leto?"

They nodded. Melissa's eyes flashed, and she gripped the hilt of her sword again.

Bunny growled, but didn't further the topic.

"I'm a son of Poseidon, and Bunny's a daughter of Apollo," I continued.

"Don't give away too much information," Bunny hissed.

"Why not?" Melissa said innocently.

"Yeah," Danny agreed. It was the first time he'd spoken to us. "We won't hurt you. You helped us out, so we owe you one. In fact, why don't you come back to our camp?"

Melissa frowned, but nodded reluctantly.

Bunny seemed to weigh our options. "Okay, yeah. For a little while."

xxx

"Did you guys get anything?" the girl asked Melissa. She ignored us.

Melissa sighed and sat down. "No. There's nothing to eat down here." She looked up at me. "Freddy, this is Brandi Lowe. Brandi, Freddy. Over there is Richard, and the Danny-clone is Mike Evans. They're twins. Don't worry, you get used to their identicalness soon enough."

I nodded. I was already used to it, thanks to my sisters. My mom had been the only one to be able to tell them apart, at first, before I caught on. They both had eyes that hovered between blue and green, but Camille's were a teeny bit bluer.

"Hiya," Richard said, glancing up from his notebook. His eyes found Melissa. "I hate to tell you this, Melissa, but we have to go back."

Melissa grimaced. "We can't! Reed and Pilar will kill us."

Richard shook his dead. "We have to. There's just not enough food left to continue. Sorry, Mel. I know how much this means to you."

She groaned and stared upward, utterly defeated. "I really wanted this to work out."

"I know you did, Mel."

"What's going on?" I asked. Bunny pursed her lips.

Danny opened his mouth to answer, but Melissa was faster. "It doesn't matter now. You two can come back with us to Montana. We know the way out."

**Gina POV**

As it always happens, I met a boy over the fence.

I was standing triumphantly over my garden, admiring my crocuses and now barren rose bushes. I regretted killing the poppies, because they'd almost been my favorites when I was little (second only to crocuses, in case you were wondering), but they would grow back eventually. I hadn't taken out the roots.

Back to the boy. He had thick black hair, and had his nose stuck in a book. I hated books. Maybe it's the dyslexia. It's just too much of a pain.

I knew I wouldn't be able to survive two hours without a male acquaintance. I never liked girls much. Call me a tomboy, but I wear teeny skirts in the summertime. Have you ever seen a tomboy do _that_?

"Hey!" I called.

He looked up from his book, and his eyes widened in surprise. He grinned. "Fancy meeting you here, Gina."

I stared at him quizzically, trying desperately to remember where I'd seen him and what his name was before he caught on to my crappy memory.

He laughed. "Matt Wright, Gina? Doesn't that ring a bell?"

It did ring a bell, but I still had no idea who the hell he was.

He raised his eyebrows. "Math class, Gina? Ninth grade math class? Come on, I thought Jack was supposed to be the dumb one."

"Yeah, I think I remember you," I said slowly. "You sat next to Jack, right? You were the only one in our group to ever have your homework. Except when I had mine, then Jack and Katy copied off of me."

"Yeah, and I was the only one in the group to finish the year with any more than a C average." He rolled his eyes.

"I had a B."

"Liar."

"Okay, C plus. Same thing." I cocked my head.

He grinned, and we were silent until his smile faded. "How've you been lately, Gina?"

I smiled, almost (quite uncharacteristically) shyly. "Pretty good." I paused. "Was it that obvious that Jack was the ditzy one?"

He smirked, and for about ten seconds, he reminded me so much of Jack that I had to pause, blink, and shake the memory out of my head.

**A/N: No, I would ****never**** be cruel enough to expect you to remember Matt. It doesn't really matter – he has about one line in the first chapter of HMPWI. I had this new character developing, but I was stumped with what to name him. So then I was rereading HMPWI, and I was all like HEY, LET'S REUSE MATT. But hey, if you do remember him, kudos to you for having a freakish memory like my own.**


	5. Enter: Yet Another Pretty Mental Patient

**A/N: Despite what it says, the title will probably stay like this. Sorry.**

**I have to say, Katy's addiction to World of Warcraft is probably one of my top ten favorite pointless little details in my stories. It's just so unexpected from a girl like her, and as you know "there iz no girlz on de inter webz."**

**Rose POV**

The Aphrodite cabin was, as usual, total chaos. Just the way I like it, actually. Little Bella Johnson had her knees hooked over the railing on my bunk and was hanging upside down. (Don't ask.) Nina and Anthony were eating Twizzlers, and complaining about how they tasted like cough medicine (which they did.) Not that I understand why they didn't just stop eating the stupid candy. Katy was sitting at her desk, doing something on the computer, and Adrianna was stretched out on a spare bed with her laptop. Aiko was curled up in bed reading _Romeo and Juliet _for the thousandth time. We've all read it a jillion times, Anthony included.

"Adrianna. You suck at this," Katy snapped, slamming her fist on the table for the fourth time.

Adrianna, on the other hand, was munching a Twizzler carefully. "You two are wrong. It's a cough drop, not cough medicine."

"Oh, and there's a difference!" Nina said sarcastically.

"Well, technically, it reminds me of a _throat_ drop I had once."

Katy scrambled to press a few keys. "Adrianna!"

"What's up?" Anthony loped over to look over her shoulder, still chewing the "throat drop" candy.

"She's trying to get me back into World of Warcraft," Adrianna replied, still ignoring whatever was going on in the virtual world on her laptop.

"I'm tanking SFK," Katy explained, which didn't tell us _anything_. "Adrianna's _supposed_ to be healing me. You suck at it, Adrianna."

"Give me a break! I'm trying!"

"You're not even looking at the screen!"

Adrianna glanced back at her laptop. "Oh, sorry. Are you dead?"

"I give up," Katy muttered.

"I _love _you kids," Bella said, eyes closed. She was still upside down. "Never a dull moment here in Cabin Ten."

"You said it," Aiko mumbled, still mostly immersed in the play.

Nick poked his head in the door. "Has anyone talked to Ms. Cabot recently?"

"I'd really rather die," Bella replied coolly.

Nina nodded in agreement, her eyes wide and scared-looking.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Has anyone talked to Hades yet?"

We all shook our heads fiercely. No way in hell was _I_ going to tell Hades that his daughter had died. He'd disappeared just before the battle, so we hadn't been able to let him know about the outcome.

Nick nodded curtly, and his head disappeared from the doorway.

I waited a few minutes before saying, "Has anyone seen Reed or Senka lately?"

"Reed's trying to lay low," Nina replied immediately. "And you know how Senka will do anything he's doing."

I didn't have a chance to respond. Sunshine, Hades's younger daughter, burst in, looking like she'd just been through a cyclone.

"Where is that evil cat?" she shrieked.

Of course, that got us all thinking about Ker. Sunshine scanned the cabin and, realizing that Pluto wasn't here, she dashed off to continue the hunt for Ker's demon cat. Poor Reed Winston was right behind her, showing up at exactly the wrong time.

"Hey, can I talk to you, Rose?" he asked, glancing around as if one of us was going to kill him.

"Sure, Reed," I said, glaring at the others to please exit the cabin immediately.

"Have you asked Senka's permission to speak to Madam Slut?" Adrianna was the first to meander out, smirking.

"You're one to talk," I muttered, staring at my feet.

Aiko grinned, ignoring me. "Yeah, Reed. Is Senka getting boring?"

Reed blushed. "I just want to _talk _to her. And you guys know I'm not dating Senka, right?"

Nina raised her eyebrows. "You're single? Then why am I dating _this_ loser?"

"Very funny," Anthony muttered. They sauntered out of the cabin, laughing.

After everyone was gone, Reed grinned. "I lied. I'm still dating Senka. She's just not the type to get all worked up over me hanging out with a pretty girl, you know? I pretty much grew up with her, Pilar, and Yoyo, so."

I folded my arms in an icy fashion. "So. What do you need?"

He frowned. "Honestly? I don't know. It's just that Senka's the only one at camp who will even look at me."

"You killed Hades's eldest daughter, Reed."

His brown eyes hardened. "You killed Poseidon's only son."

"Only son under the age of thirty," I corrected, not wanting to confront the basic truth of his statement.

He rolled his eyes.

"And how did you know about that, anyway?" I snapped.

"It's not exactly a secret."

"Who told you, though?" He didn't answer, so I repeated my question. "Who told you, Reed?"

He was silent for a while, so I kept pestering him, and finally he burst out, "Ker told me, okay? Ker told me. She _hated _you, Rose! He was _everything_ to her! Did you think of that before you killed him?"

No. No, I didn't. Actually, I hadn't even thought of that until he mentioned it.

**Gina POV**

"So since when do you live in Vermont?" I asked Matt.

We were sitting with our backs against a tree in his backyard. An oak tree, just in case you were wondering. He lived where I had thought Janine did, but she must've moved.

He frowned. "Janine's my cousin. My older sister and I moved here when my mom died."

I blushed. "I'm sorry," I said awkwardly.

He shrugged. "It's okay. Since when do _you_ live in Vermont?"

"I did when I was little. I've been living in New York ever since I was seven. Now I'm back here, but only for the summers."

"Why only the summers?"

"I'm avoiding someone in New York."

He laughed. "A little dramatic, don't you think? Moving to a different state to get away from someone?"

I shrugged. "Who's your older sister?"

He frowned again. "Her name's Mila. Hang on, I'll go get her. You'll like her."

He jogged up to the back door and shouted something into the house. Moments later, a much-older-than-twelve Janine appeared, with a pretty girl by her side. Matt dragged the pretty girl back to our tree, looking triumphant.

"Mila, this is Gina Daniels. Gina, please meet my older sister, Mila Wright."

Mila smiled. She had long, dark red hair, and gray eyes that any daughter of Aphrodite would have killed for.

Everybody knew Rose was at the top of the _pretty scale. _It was just common knowledge, giving credit where credit was due, no matter who she'd killed.

Mila broke that scale and sent the shattered remains raining down on most of Asia.

"Hi," she finally said, ignoring the fact that I was gaping at her like an idiot.

I wish she'd just saved me all my trouble and said right then, "Hey, Gina, I'm psychotic."


	6. For Johnny

**A/N: The other day, there was a reference on TV to Jack Daniels whiskey. My brother said, "Hey, isn't there a character in your story named Jack Daniels?" It greatly increased the hilarity of the reference. **

**The title of this chapter is a reference to The Outsiders which quite obviously does not belong to me or else I would have myself legally married to Dallas Winston.**

**Gina POV**

I was starting to get tired of my away-from-Jack act. I was spending increasing amounts of time sprawled out on my bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering what kind of demented person I was.

"Gina!" My step-mother, Stephanie, called from the doorway. "Can you come help me bring the groceries into the kitchen?"

I heaved myself out of my Corner of Depression and jogged downstairs and outside. About halfway through I realized I'd left my phone, but it wasn't like anyone was going to call me, anyway.

There were hardly any bags left, so I loaded my arms with about five and somehow managed to close the car door. I seem to remember it taking my chin, right arm, and right elbow. While I struggled with the front door to the house, Matt came up and opened it for me.

"And they say chivalry is dead," I muttered.

"Do you even know what chivalry is?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but noticed that Matt was staring at my sister, standing in the living room gushing about something into a phone.

_My _phone.

Sandi seemed to notice us just as we noticed her. Her eyes widened and her smile faded, but she kept chattering into the speaker.

"Take these into the kitchen, will you?" I hissed. Matt took the bags and nodded.

Sandi's eyes widened further as she backed away from me and finally ran into the wall. Then she turned and made a dash for the stairs and hurried up them. I followed her. I admired her ability to speak calmly to whoever was on the phone (like you don't already know, I mean, come on) while her powerful sister with intent to kill ran after her.

"Give me the phone!" I shrieked, nearly tripping on the top step.

"No!" she snapped back. Into the phone, she continued, "No, she's not here, sorry."

"She _is _here!"

"You're never getting this phone back, Gina!" She slammed the door to her room in my face and locked the door. I waited patiently, knowing she'd made a mistake saying my name.

Sure enough, she showed up a few moments later, looking bitter. She thrust the phone at me. "He wants to talk to you."

Dear gods above, I was like a desperate girl from a romantic movie after that. I practically _skipped _down the hall and into my temporary bedroom (it had been the guest room when I was younger – my room had been given to Sandi), threw myself onto my bed, and said breathlessly into the phone, "Hello?"

"Your sister's insane," Jack muttered.

"Tell me about it. So what's up?"

"So wait, you dumped me, crossed the country, and spent a week at your evil father's house and now you're _that _casual?"

"Yup. How's it going in Montana?"

"We're back in New York." Then he went on to answer all my unspoken questions. "The battle went… um, fine. We lost, but it doesn't really matter. Anthony and Nina are finally dating, and- hang on a sec. Adrianna, do you have to play that video ten thousand times?"

Adrianna snapped at him in the background, and Jack returned to me.

"Sorry. She's been playing some video online forever. It's raining, so we're all stuck inside. Somehow I started out in the Aphrodite cabin and ended up stuck with Adrianna and her psychotic siblings."

"I resent that," Troy Day's voice said in the background.

"Shut up, Troy."

I stifled a laugh at Jack's annoyed tone, which was rare. "So why's Adrianna obsessed with said video?"

"A much-younger Matt Dillon has about two sentences in the background."

I didn't even try to stifle a laugh this time. For whatever reason, Adrianna's presence wasn't bugging me. I guess I was just happy to be talking to Jack again.

"Dally was sexy," Adrianna called from the background.

I could just picture Jack rolling his eyes as he said, "Yeah, sure, Adrianna, whatever you say."

"Give me my phone back, midget."

"You can't legally call me a midget until I'm sixteen, and that's only if I don't grow past five feet by then."

"If you do not give me that phone back right now I swear to Zeus above in heaven I will follow you around for your entire life singing Madonna's greatest hits, and I will call you midget at our high school reunions. All of them."

Jack sighed. "Sorry, Gina. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

I groaned, like a kid leaving the zoo or something. Romantic-movie-female-protagonist, I'm telling you. "Bye, Jack."

I had kind of intentionally not told him about Matt.

**A/N: Gina's being over-loved. Freddy needs some love. Rose just doesn't even deserve love. She still kind of deserves hate.**

**I honestly did watch a video like five times just because Matt Dillon had a line in it. WE'LL DO IT FOR JOHNNY. FOR JOHNNY. Forget Sparta, freedom, and pony. We're doing it for Johnny. Everything I do from this point in time onward is… FOR JOHNNY. Because Dallas Winston told me to.**


	7. In Which Katy Explodes

**A/N: Does anyone remember my raving about Finnick Odair earlier in HTTRI? I just realized that the way I picture Freddy has a very suspicious resemblance to Finnick. Very, very suspicious… and their backgrounds and abilities are coincidentally similar, too. Seriously. It's starting to get creepy.**

**If I fall asleep right now I will get a maximum of six hours of sleep tonight.**

**Gina's first and middle names, when combined together and translated to English, translate to "Queen Rose." Yes, the Rose part is on purpose. Very much so. It amuses me.**

**Rose POV**

"You're in a good mood today, Jack," Katy observed.

"I haven't needed to save any damsels in distress lately. It's very soothing," he replied coolly.

If Katy's temper has _one _"on button," Jack just pressed it. Ever since our battle (it was more of a scuffle, honestly) with Persephone, where Jack saved her ass by putting a sword to my neck, Katy's been a little bitter about the whole thing. She's always been upset that I pinned her so fast, and that Jack had to save her.

"Look," she snapped, her blue eyes burning like fire. "If I'd needed your help, I would've asked for it. I can handle myself. You wouldn't have done the same for Gina."

"Rose wouldn't have gotten three feet from Persephone if it had been Gina," he retorted.

"Liar. You trust Gina to handle herself."

"That is correct."

"Why not the same for me?"

"Katy, Gina has been training to defend herself since she was six years old. You're fifteen, and Katy, fighting is not exactly your forte."

"Well at least I wouldn't have dumped you just because of some _girl_!" Katy half-shrieked. Jack's eyes widened, and his face fell.

That was kind of a shock. Katy _never _yelled at people.

What was even more shocking was that she continued. "I just can't believe you people! Has anyone ever thought of how _I _feel about Gina _ditching us_? Has anyone ever thought of how _I _feel about Bunny? More importantly, you're sitting pretty here just _waiting _for her!"

"Bunny?" Jack's lack of brains was becoming increasingly endearing.

"Your _girlfriend, _you _idiot_!" Katy's voice dropped dangerously low and she drew herself up to her full height, pretty much towering over Jack. "How can you tell me, Jack Chase, that she hasn't met a pretty little beau up there in Vermont? If I were you, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Gina's not exactly Ugly Betty, in case you didn't _notice_."

Jack was still caught up on the Bunny thing, which kind of sucked for Katy, because that lecture was impressive. Nevertheless, Jack said, notably calmly, "Yeah, about Bunny. Katy, can I talk to you?"

Katy nodded, looking kind of stunned or dazed. "Yeah, sure, Jack."

He sighed. "Go get Adrianna and meet me in the Poseidon cabin."

**Gina POV**

"My slightly less attractive older sister has assembled you here today to publicize her stupid decision," Sandi announced. Mila and Matt were sitting near our little oak in Matt's backyard, while I stood confidently, and Sandi paced back and forth, convince that I was out of my mind.

"I think I'm bipolar or something," I began.

"Okay, Gina, you have two choices: invest in a dictionary or stop using words you don't know the exact meaning of." Matt cocked an eyebrow.

I frowned at him, and he rolled his eyes. "Please, Gina, continue with your insanity."

"I want to go back to New York," I declared.

"I told you she was nuts!" Sandi protested.

"You were right," Mila agreed.

Matt nodded. "Gina, I'm sorry, but this is just a stupid idea."

"I'll come with you, though," Mila offered.

There was a beat of silence.

"If she's going, I have to go," Matt sighed.

"If Jack Chase is involved, then _I _have to go," Sandi mused.

I smiled. That's what I was looking for.

**Freddy POV**

"Welcome back, Melissa," said a girl with dark brown hair. Her words were kind, but her voice was cold and business-like. "How did it go?"

The frustrated blonde didn't reply. Instead, she stomped right by the girl. Danny followed her.

"That's my sister, Pilar," Richard whispered.

Pilar watched Melissa for a moment before turning back to Richard and looking at him expectantly. He shook his head.

She scowled. "I knew you guys wouldn't last long without us."

"Hey, lay off," Richard said sharply. "We ran out of food."

"And who are these two?" Pilar snapped, gesturing roughly to me and Bunny.

"This is Bunny Parker, and this is Freddy Masen." Richard returned to his polite tone.

A purple-haired girl with skinny jeans and a T-shirt with a picture of Justin Bieber on the front came strutting up, hands in her pockets. When she heard my name, she threw her hands up in the air and grinned.

"So you're Freddy Masen!" she crowed.

"Where did you hear about me?" I asked, confused.

"Pleased to finally meet you, Freddy! I'm Yolanda Smith, better known as Yoyo," she blathered on excitedly.

"Where did you hear about me?" I repeated.

Bunny seemed annoyed that I was getting all the attention.

Yoyo's smile faded.

"Where did you hear about me?" Does it really take a broken record?

Yoyo and Pilar were staring at their feet.

"Ker Cabot," Pilar finally said hoarsely, but firmly. She glanced sideways at Yoyo, who bit her lip and shook her head the slightest bit.

Another blonde jogged up, and immediately shook my hand. "Hi, I'm Brigit. Melissa told me you were here. I'm so sorry about all this. Ker adored you, you know."

Poseidon has some sort of stupid gene in him, because Jack wouldn't have picked up the past tense, either, and his grandmother is the goddess of wisdom.

**A/N: HE'S NOT STUPID. Just unobservant. And a little overwhelmed. Give him a break. He's been dead recently.**

**Yes crazy short chapter again and I do apologize.**


	8. In Which the Popsicle Stand is Blown

**A/N: I, personally, think that there should have been more snakes on the plane. Gina's plane, too. That would've been funny.**

**My inner writer is not only a hopeless romantic, but she's incredibly sadistic.**

**I forgot to mention this earlier. I've signed up to take a writer's workshop next year in school. If I don't get put in it, it **_**will**_** show in my work. I will do what I used to do: Put character names in a hat, pull out seven or eight (****OR MORE****) names, and immediately plot to kill off all those characters. I call it "the hat of death."**

**Freddy POV**

Our plane ride to New York City was boring, simple as that. Bunny had decided to take along a few of the half-titans – Richard and Melissa. Pilar, Yoyo, and another girl, this one with short black hair, had blackmailed Bunny into paying for their fares, too. So we were taking five of the demigods' worst enemies back to Manhattan with us.

Melissa and Richard seemed to be the only calm ones, which was surprising, because Melissa lived up to her reputation as a bloodthirsty daughter of Pallas. She was asleep on Richard's shoulder, though, so it didn't really count.

Yoyo was today dressed simply, in violently bright purple skinny jeans, a white v-neck, and a black fedora atop her also-violently-bright-purple hair. Anyway, she was up to the tricks that one could expect from a bored girl on a plane whose friend was asleep on a guy's shoulder.

"Richard and Melissa, sitting in a tree-" she sang.

Richard cut her off, still staring at some notes in his notebook. "Don't even start, Yoyo."

"In her defense, you two do look very sweet," Pilar said helpfully.

"Do I have to start on your relationship with Reed, Pilar?"

She scratched her head sheepishly. "Reed loves me. He just doesn't… know it yet."

Richard finally took his eyes off his notes to turn around and look at Pilar. "Pilar, everyone who has ever been loved by Reed when he "doesn't know it yet" is dead and buried."

Pilar huffed and folded her arms, looking annoyed.

"He's right, P," the black-haired girl said absently, turning a page in her book. "If Senka knew how loose that poor boy is, she'd have dumped him months ago."

"He's not loose," Richard argued. "He's just kind of dumb, sometimes. And it's not like he actually acknowledges his undying affection until after they're dead and gone."

"Could you guys be more insensitive?" Melissa asked, eyes still closed.

"What?" Yoyo asked innocently.

Melissa nodded towards me and smiled sweetly.

"Well, I'm proud of you, Mel," Richard said. "How's that new kindness thing working out for you?"

"It certainly is a virtue," she murmured. "I wish you'd told me to try this earlier."

"Well, if we're changing the subject, I have a question." Pilar cleared her throat.

"Miss Montoya, you have the floor," Yoyo said, standing up to bow to Pilar. The flight attendant glared at her, to which she responded by sticking out her tongue.

Pilar rolled her eyes. "Ankita, why do you call me P?"

Melissa grinned. "Aw, Ankita calls everyone by their first initial. Isn't that right, Ankita?"

"That is correct, M."

Melissa grimaced. "I don't like my name shortened."

"Why not, Mel? 'Melissa' just seems like a kind of prissy name for a girl like you." Richard grinned.

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Dude, it means _bee._"

"I don't like bees much. There's a reason I call you Mel, you know."

"Because Mel means honey in Latin and honey is sweeter than bees," Melissa recited.

"Okay, this is starting to become sickeningly romantic," Bunny interjected. Melissa pulled her head from Richard's shoulder and Richard glared at Bunny. "I paid for seven tickets across the country to New York. You at least owe me a moment of peace and quiet. I died recently, you know."

Ankita muttered something, unintelligible from where I was sitting, that made Yoyo raise her eyebrows. Bunny leaned back and closed her eyes.

**Rose POV**

"You in the mood for a movie tonight, Rose?" Nina asked casually, grabbing a diet Coke from the Aphrodite cabin's mini-fridge.

"With you and Anthony? Won't that be a little… third-wheel-ish?" I said skeptically.

Nina rolled her eyes and tossed me a can of soda. "Yeah, because you can _so_ see Anthony and I cuddling and watching a romantic movie. Really, Rose, be serious here."

"He's Aphrodite's only son, Nina."

She glared at me. "After the Aiko thing, he's on high alert to make sure he's not neglecting his sisters. You, Rose, have nothing better to do tonight."

I blushed.

Anthony burst in the door. "Did you get her?"

Nina laughed. "She doesn't have a date tonight, does she?"

He grinned. "She hasn't had a date since her last boyfriend ditched her for his best friend who was, in their defense, much more qualified to date him."

Nina smiled sweetly. "Meet you in the car in ten minutes, Rose. I'm driving."

"She's gonna kill us," I whispered to Anthony.

"Don't worry," he said, under his breath. "The theater isn't far. And yes, that's for a reason."

xxx

"I have to pee," Nina muttered.

"We totally needed to know that," Anthony grumbled. She elbowed him. He elbowed her back. "Take Rose. She knows where the bathroom is."

I grabbed her arm and half-dragged her towards the bathroom. We hadn't even gotten to the bathroom, much less paid for our tickets, when we ran into a very familiar blonde with her new average-height boyfriend.

I took out my phone and pressed the _camera _button.

"What are you _doing_?" Gina demanded, holding a hand in front of her face.

I frowned. "Taking a picture and texting it to Adrianna. Jacky will recognize your face faster, sweetie, but I'm sure he'll still recognize your hand. Say cheese!"

"Okay, that's incredibly Adrianna-ish of you to say," she snapped. Then she glanced at Nina and her angry expression faded, leaving her face smooth and blank. "Tell Anthony I'm happy for the two of you."

"Tell him yourself, kiddo," Anthony said, putting a hand on my shoulder (and scaring the crap out of me.)

Gina grinned and hugged him. "I didn't last long, did I?"

Anthony laughed. "Nobody expected you to, Gina."

She sighed and scratched the back of your head. "I feel kind of stupid."

"Trust me," Nina interjected, "Gina, no one cares. Even Adrianna misses you, in her own way."

Anthony elbowed me in the ribs, so I nodded and said, "Yeah, you should've seen Katy the other day."

Gina smiled, the first warm, truly genuine smile I'd seen from her in a while. "Let's go find Mila and Sandi and blow this popsicle stand."

**Gina POV**

Rose and Anthony had filled Matt, Mila, and Sandi in on the whole half-blood thing, with Nina occasionally interjecting the virtues of the half-titans. Surprisingly, Mila seemed easily understanding, but Matt stared at his feet the whole time. Sandi, knowing her like I knew Adrianna and myself (because she was so similar to a combination of the two of us), was totally in the dark, but she was faking understanding.

Maia and Myrtle were hanging around Half-Blood Hill when we pulled up. Maia smiled coyly.

"Ten on the new kid," she said, as we approached. "He looks like he's got potential."

"Ten on Jack, dear sister," Myrtle disagreed.

"You're a wuss. 'True love' and 'soulmates' and 'first love lasts forever' and stuff like that. Get real, Myrtle. Maybe the entirety of Jack and Gina's relationship was a total mistake, seeing as how it failed so utterly, they've lost an empathy link they can never get back, and even if Gina goes crawling back to him, she's getting in the back of a very long line filled with the girls after Jack. Forget Percy Jackson – Jack Chase is Aphrodite's new best friend."

That bugged me (actually, it took Anthony's hand on my shoulder to keep me from tearing his younger sister to pieces) but it really got to Myrtle.

"Please forgive me," she said, irritated, "for believing that not everything is irreparable."

"I never said everything is irreparable," Maia argued. "I said Jack and Gina were a mistake, which they _were_."

I felt like she was sticking pins in me. I don't like to admit my feelings, in fact I really kind of hate it. Katy says it's because I'm proud and stubborn. Adrianna says it's because I'm a selfish, insensitive female dog. Jack says they're both right, but I'm _his _"stubborn, proud, selfish, insensitive female dog." And he's my short, thick-headed triple agent. It's a two way street. Pretty much everything is.

"Anthony I love your sisters and all," Nina said quietly, "but if Gina punches the little blond one, you can't blame her, you just can't."

Maia took a step back, and a few different things happened at the same time.

First off, Jack and Adrianna appeared over the hill, evidently having noticed the commotion. Jack grinned, and Adrianna waved to me bitterly, then noticed Matt, and smiled in the same coy, clever way Maia had earlier.

Secondly, a voice came from behind us. "Hey, you guys brought my car!"

Third, Adrianna tapped Jack on the shoulder and they both turned an identical shade of paper white.

Fourth, the short blond woman behind us clapped excitedly and said, "Hi, kids! Bunny Parker is back in black!"

**A/N: Heh. Hehehe.**


	9. Closet JackandGina

**A/N: I just made a typo and referred to Jack and Adrianna as Jack and Gina. This is the beginning of the end, my friends.**

**Rose POV**

Jack and Adrianna looked like they were going to faint or something, but Bunny ignored them.

Except for Bunny's chattering, though, everything was dead silent. I was staring at Freddy, and I could tell my eyes were huge and tear-filled.

_I get a second chance. _He_ gets a second chance. _

Next thing I knew, I had my arms around him and I was bawling like a baby into his chest. And I'd never even liked Freddy all that much. He was just another guy willing to beg for a night to talk to me.

"Oh my gods, you're back," I sobbed. "I _didn't_ ruin something forever."

Jack snapped out of whatever he'd snapped into. "Yeah you did," he snarled. "If you hadn't killed him, he would've been the only one of us smart enough to keep Ker out of the prophecy, and she wouldn't have died."

Freddy and Gina's faces fell at the exact same time.

"_What_?" Freddy said, horrified.

"Jack Chase, what did you just say?" Gina growled, her voice dangerous and low.

"I take it back," the blond half-titan whispered to the brown-haired boy next her. "We're not insensitive. They are."

"Um, well… I, uh…" Jack stuttered.

Gina's eyes and temper burned equally. "Did you forget to mention that over the phone? 'The battle, went, um, fine, Gina.'"

"Oh, you're screwed, Jack," Anthony whispered.

"That was just stupid," Nina agreed quietly. The Aphrodite twins – as Maia and Myrtle were known, even though they had different fathers – were still stony-faced and silent.

"I died too," Bunny said cheerfully. Then she sneered. "And the two of you are lucky I don't kick your asses right now."

Gina opened her mouth to snap something at Bunny, but Freddy was faster.

"Bunny, you knew she was dead, didn't you?"

Bunny flushed. "Um, sort of."

"Bunny," Adrianna said quietly. "I know you, and you're not stupid. You knew Ker shouldn't have gone to the battle."

"Like you didn't?" Freddy sounded broken. He and Ker had kind of been like a closet Jack-and-Gina, except Ker was a hell of a lot more subtle than Gina, and Freddy was way smarter than Jack, but neither of them had really thought of each other as a romantic interest, really. Until one or the other was dead.

Actually, Freddy was a lot like Jack in that he was misguided into thinking he was head-over-heels in love with me. That gave me an idea.

"Come on, Jack," Freddy protested weakly. He still had his arms around me, and I seemed to be the only thing holding him upright. He was shaking like a little dog in the rain. "You knew her. You knew her worst fear, didn't you? She knew yours. She knew you better than she knew Nick, we all do. She protected you at every chance she could, and how did you protect her? Come on, I die for six months and I come back and you've managed to get Ker killed, of all people?" His voice started to rise. "Ker Cabot, of all people! You let _her _die! Ker Cabot, daughter of Hades, you let her die. You know what you guys did? You sent her straight to her own personal hell," he spat.

"She died a hero," I assured him. "She's in Elysium, no doubt."

"Elysium? What does it matter to her? It's the Underworld. It's her father's kingdom. There was nothing more terrifying for her, and now she's there, and you guys shoved her along." He stared at the sea of blank faces. "Did none of you know this?"

"I need to go read a myth," Adrianna said suddenly.

Bunny's eyes fixed on her, full of malice. Weird. "See you around, Adrianna."

Freddy seemed annoyed that he was being ignored, but he sighed heavily, defeated.

**Gina POV**

I hadn't been back at camp ten minutes before a distressed Katy grabbed my arm and silently dragged me halfway across camp to the Aphrodite cabin, then locked the door behind us.

Katy looked awful. Her eyes were red, and she looked like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in two weeks. Her makeup was as bad as an Aphrodite girl's makeup ever got – nearly nonexistent. She was shaking, and her black hair was frizzy and, well, basically, she looked like she needed a therapist, and fast.

"Gina," she said. Her voice was no better. It was haunted and shaky. "Gina, Eric didn't kill Bunny."

Had that been speculated? Not surprising. When you live with someone for seven years or so, you get to know how they are, what they're like. My guess was Eric had slunk away before the battle and Bunny had "mysteriously" disappeared.

"That's nice," I said flatly, still aggravated and hurt that Jack hadn't mentioned anything about Ker's death, and that Adrianna's only reaction to Freddy's reaction was "I need to read a myth." Sorry Ker's dead and all. So sorry. Please excuse me while I go _read_ which, um, you don't have the patience to do because I'm Dyslexic Superwoman and somehow I find it super-easy to be a bookworm. (Adrianna's reading habit was frustrating.)

I hadn't even been all that close to Ker. It was just something that really needed to be mentioned. And Bunny? Adrianna and Jack had found a woman dead in the woods and he had "forgotten" to mention _that_?

Katy pulled me from my anger back into reality. "No, Gina, you don't get it."

"What don't I get?" Clearly Katy was facing the brunt of my touchy irritation.

Katy shifted awkwardly, like she didn't know how to explain it without looking stupid. "Okay, well, here's how Jack told it to me. Bunny went unseen at the battle in Montana. By the way, did you ever figure out how Bunny knew the Titan camp was in Montana?"

Well, she needed a therapist, but she was still the absent-minded Katy. "Focus, Kate."

"Okay, so. Bunny was MIA for the whole thing – Nina confirmed it."

"And MIA means…?"

"Missing in action. Try to keep up here, Gina," she said impatiently. "So anyway, someone said something like 'hey, where are Bunny and Eric' after, you know, Ker was stabbed by her only close friend who isn't a son of Zeus or Poseidon, no big deal and all-"

"Your sarcasm is delightful."

"Thank you, so is yours. _Anyway, _Jack ran off to go find Bunny, and of course Adrianna went with him, and-"

"Katherine Venus Pierce, open this door right now or I will slay you and everyone you know, including your _beautiful_ step-sister."

"Oh, we're playing the middle name card, are we, _Polymnia_?" Katy shouted back.

"Shut up and let me in," Adrianna's voice grumbled.

Katy reluctantly unlocked the door and opened it. Adrianna stepped in, and Katy shut and locked the door again.

"Adrianna Powers has joined the party," Adrianna said, for once not laughing hysterically at her own clever remark (which wasn't all that clever anyway.)

When neither Katy nor I responded, Adrianna cleared her throat. "Jack told me he told you, which – don't worry – I _will _kill him for."

"You killed your sister," Katy said coldly. "Why should we trust you with anything?"

Wait, what? Where was I when this happened? Oh, that's right. New England.

Adrianna groaned. "That kid is such an idiot. Is that how he told it to you? No. _Eric_ killed my sister. We just let her die."

"And there's a difference!" muttered a voice from outside.

"Oh, what _now_?" Katy snapped, exasperated. She tore open the door, and a very sheepish Anthony and Nina stood in the doorway.

Nina grinned brightly. "It gets dramatic around here, doesn't it?"

"I don't get it," Anthony said, having no qualms with being caught spying on us. "You let Bunny die? How so?"

Well, at least she didn't kill Devon or Daphne. I liked them. Bunny, not so much. And clearly Bunny's death had not lasted long.

"Well, technically there was nothing we could do," Adrianna said. "So we couldn't have helped her even if we'd tried, but we didn't try."

"And now you regret that horribly…?" Nina, cringing, made an attempt to make this whole situation a little bit less awful and overdramatic.

"Nope," Adrianna replied brightly. "Jack does, but I'm smarter than that."

"Well, back up here," I put in. "You _could_ do something, Adrianna. You're a daughter of Apollo. Super healing powers, remember?"

Adrianna stared at anything but the four of us.

"I don't," she finally admitted, and that was all she would say on the topic.

It wasn't impossible. Adrianna had been compared to me in godly powers – one of the reasons I resented her, yes. She was a great musician – played three instruments, not including being able to play Ode to Joy on the piano and her amazing voice that even I had to admire. I'd never seen her miss a bulls-eye with an arrow, and because of her long-ranged skills, she was the only camper my age who'd ever beat me more than one out of three times. Except Jack, but he knew my weaknesses too well – he didn't count.

I had to confirm something. "Adrianna, this was… your idea, right?"

Adrianna looked shocked that I even implied that Jack would ever think of something so horrible. "Yes. Aiko and I had had a long talk, and she said Ankita was totally on to Bunny's little game. She was waiting. She wasn't sure what she was going to do yet, but she had some ideas, and they were bad."

At the time, I had no idea how bad "bad" could be.

**Rose POV**

Anthony was the last to come back from dinner on Saturday, with the increasingly ever-present Nina by his side. The rest of us were hanging around as usual, with Adrianna chattering to her mom over the phone and Jack talking quietly with Katy. Aiko was finishing up _Romeo and Juliet, _which Jack picked up on.

"I read that book," he said cheerfully. It's widely agreed that Jack's cheery disposition is his best quality. "I only remembered one quote."

Aiko looked at Jack with remote interest for the first time in her life. "Which quote is that?"

Jack furrowed his brow and thought for a second. "Um… it's Juliet's line, I think. 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any word would smell as sweet.'"

"Or foul," said a grinning Gina from her place in the doorway.

Jack smirked – an expression we hadn't seen in a while. "You could say that."

I felt my face heat up. It was unusual that Jack wasn't glancing back at me apologetically, but that just went to show how absorbed he was in Gina's return.

Anthony was thrilled. "Someone with a Y chromosome who _remembers _Shakespeare! Dude, I love you!"

Gina glared at Jack before he could open his mouth. "Don't you be changing teams on me, Jacky."

Anthony very casually put an arm around Nina, who smiled, cast her eyes heavenward, and shook her head in a gesture saying, _Can you believe these guys?_

Jack bristled. "I thought you were with Matt."

Gina stared into the distance and bit her lip. "I haven't quite made up my mind yet."

Jack Chase, you have officially met your match.

**A/N: Today, I asked my friend (who is an a-may-zing artist, seriously, looking at stuff she draws makes me feel unworthy to breathe the same air as her) to draw Rose – no advice from me, just her interpretation. Keep in mind, ladies and gents, that this is the girl who had thought Rose was twelve until recently. (Also keep in mind that she's hitting on Reed, and he's **_**seventeen. **_**I'm pretty sure that's illegal.) I looked back at her notebook a few minutes later and saw a shirt so slutty that even I wouldn't wear it, and I wear some pretty slutty shirts, kids.**

**Just to clarify- Rose is fifteen. Her birthday's in November. JUST TO CLARIFY.**

**Clarification #2: Jack and Anthony are not meant to be together, and if I receive a video of Sim-Anthony and Sim-Jack's wedding, ****I will kill a puppy.**


	10. Adrianna, Queen of Bad Ideas

**A/N: I really like Freddy's mom. Actually, I've been considering on doing "mini-spinoffs," just writing a couple of stories about the half-bloods' mortal parents just for fun. Which should I do first – Emma and Lucy (Freddy and Adrianna's moms) or Anna Cabot, Ker's mom? I like Ker's aunt Maria. **

**Another one of my personal favorite things about my own series (so humble, I know): Bunny's conflicted feelings for Percy Jackson. She hates Jack more than Athena does. **

**I have been ordered to ready a puppy.**

**Freddy POV**

"Hi," Rose's younger sister – the one with the black hair, Katy something - said, half shyly, almost sheepishly. "You won't remember me."

"I remember you," I replied, a little bit more coldly than was polite.

Katy didn't notice. Instead, she smiled. "I was the very confused and overwhelmed daughter of Aphrodite who was afraid of Ker."

"She's scary at first glance," I admitted. "But once you get to know her, she's amazing."

Katy took a shuddery breath. "I know."

"What did I miss while I was… gone?"

She paused. "Well, you've met Nina, have you not?"

"Uh, yeah. The one with the black hair and the freaky eyes."

Katy cocked her head. "Freaky eyes?"

"Haven't you ever noticed? They look like fire." I could've sworn Nina could have set a forest on fire just with a glance.

She frowned. "No, I never noticed that. Well, she's my brother's girlfriend. Let's see, how much have you missed? Well, Rose and Jack had a brief, ridiculous, and pointless relationship. The Bunny you remember had been exposed as Persephone, so the Bunny you came trotting up with is the real Bunny, Bunny Parker. Gina joined the Hunters because of Jack's connection with Rose, and she was back within two weeks." She smiled. "Well, it's all a very long story."

I swallowed nervously, knowing I would regret asking this. "How did Ker… um…"

Katy was tactful enough to catch on quickly. "She was protecting Nick. Penelope's half insane, and I haven't even seen Nick lately." Her eyes widened and she raised her eyebrows. "Have you been to see your sisters yet?"

xxx

If you haven't had Camryn Jacqueline Masen, eldest child of Emma Masen and Poseidon, hook her arm around your neck in her own little version of a hug, you haven't lived.

"Freddy!" she squealed. Camryn _never _squeals. The bigger surprise, however, was Camille, who was smiling and twirling her hair around one finger.

I grinned. "You dyed your hair? What did Mom say?"

She laughed, a tinkly little bell sound that differed greatly from Camryn's, which was loud and full. "She _paid _for it."

I smiled, kind of sad. I missed my mom. She'd had a hard life, and I have to admit, she did kind of bring it upon herself. She had the twins when she was sixteen (she was pretty lucky – infant mortality rate is way higher when you're a teenager, and so many twins are lost as it is, but then again, I'm going to bet that Poseidon pulled a bunch of strings with Hera.) And then, get this – she had me when she was seventeen. After that, she and her best friend Lucy Powers – Powers-Pierce, now – dropped out of high school to support themselves, and Lucy was pregnant anyway. Basically, my mom's late teenage years sucked.

Adrianna Powers came trotting up, hugging a book to her chest. "Has anyone seen Bunny lately?" she asked, looking worried.

"No," Camryn answered. Camille and I shook our heads. She had made a couple of jabs at Jack, a couple at Adrianna, and then she'd disappeared. She was probably talking to Chiron or Dionysus. Or playing pinochle and complaining about the rules and/or the pronunciation of the word "pinochle."

Adrianna frowned, then shoved the book at me, grinning wildly. It was titled _Anthology of Greek and Roman Myths._ "Open this to page fifty-three."

Across the top of the page was the title _Orpheus and Eurydice._

"Great," Camryn muttered. "You're going to get him killed. Again."

**Rose POV**

"You suggested what?" Katy shrieked.

Adrianna grinned deviously. "I'm getting him through the Door of Orpheus."

"_How_?"

Adrianna pointed to the flute case sitting on her bed. "I still need to relearn how to play a lot of the notes, but I starkly remember one piece I had a real knack for."

"Which one?"

Adrianna grabbed the compilation of flute music from under the instrument and scanned through it. She found her page, and displayed it to Katy. "It's by a very nice man by the name of Christoph Willibald Gluck."

"'From _Orfeo ed Euridice,'_" Katy read.

"If it takes more than that, I'll play the Cancan, which is from _Orpheus in the Underworld _and by Jacques Offenbach. Jack says the first song will be enough, though."

"Oh, of course Jack's in on it," her sister muttered reluctantly.

"Yeah, actually, he's probably dealing with your mom right about now. I hope he punches her."

Katy and I glowered, but secretly, I totally saw her point.

"What?" Adrianna bristled. "She deserves it. Bringing Matt down here is just cruel."

Anthony and Nina poked their heads in the door. "Guys, it's getting late. Have you seen either Bunny or Jack?"

"I saw Jack this morning, but not since," Adrianna replied. "Go ask Gina."

"She doesn't know either," Nina said softly. "No Bunny?"

"No Bunny," Katy confirmed.

"That woman's foul, Anthony," Nina snapped. "You're too innocent."

"Jack played a hand in Bunny's death," Katy said, clearing her throat. She very tactfully kept the statement vague, because if Percy Jackson found out we'd corrupted his darling little son and now he was a sort-of murderer, well, we'd all be dead and buried by sunrise.

No one in the room was very surprised, because Katy had told me earlier (but at the time, I'd been shocked) and Anthony and Nina already knew.

Nina's face paled slightly and Anthony's completely drained of any color. Nina stuttered, something rare for her. "You… you don't think… she, uh…"

"Jack'll be fine," Adrianna said confidently. "He's quick as a whip, and Bunny's worse than Ker when she picks up a weapon.

Nina still looked unconvinced.

"Don't worry, Nina," Anthony said, in his rare seriousness. "You haven't grown up with Jack. I have, and Adrianna's right. He'll hold his own. Don't forget who his parents are."

That night, Sunshine, Hades's daughter, woke up screaming bloody murder.

**A/N: Heh. Hehehe. HEHEHE…**


	11. He'll Hold his Own, You Say?

**A/N: HEHEHEHE…**

**Rose POV**

"Status report?" Anthony asked Isolde sharply.

Isolde Starr, apprentice Oracle to Rachel Dare (who wasn't often at camp – I'd only met her a few times) glanced quickly at Nina, then back to Anthony. "Definitely a Hades dream. Sunshine says he's undergoing judgment as we speak, which is stressing her out. Katy's a mess, and Adrianna is practically dead. Gina is sitting in the Big House with her head on the table. If that's not a permanent vegetative state, I don't know what is."

"She definitely broke the empathy link, so that's not possible," Anthony said dismissively. Anthony was great in times of great stress, and dear gods, please don't make me draw you a picture. I really don't want to draw you a picture. Emotions aren't my thing.

"Matt," Anthony snapped. "Go find Gina."

Matt, wide-eyed, nodded and scurried off.

"Rose, go with him."

"What? Why me?"

He gritted his teeth. "_Go with him._"

"You're not the boss of me!" I was starting to sound about nine years younger, but I was pissed off and the last thing I wanted was a pissed off Gina to deal with.

"You owe her, and Adrianna won't make anything better. I'll follow you after I make sure Nina's okay. You know how she is with death, after her mom and all." He pulled something out of his pocket. "Oh, and give her this." It was a piece of paper.

I carefully unfolded it and read it.

_Hi, kids-_

_Mreh. I guess I'm kind of sorry. Kind of. This is kind of awkward, I guess, but I have to get a point across._

_In case you morons couldn't tell,__ I'm kind of evil. I mean really, Bianca's visit should have given it away, am I right? And you guys have Ankita there now! Remember her, the creepy fortune-telling daughter of Theia? She said Anthony and I were hiding something. Anthony was half in love with Nina – how did you not figure that out? Speaking of which, are they dating yet? Aphrodite will be happy, if they are. I was hiding my big shitty secret that I indirectly killed Nico di Angelo and like I mentioned earlier, I'm __sort of evil.__ Idiots._

_Second point – I hate that kid. Percy Jackson annoys me to no end, no matter how nice or heroic or good-looking or [insert one of Percy's many virtues not mentioned earlier] he is, and his son is – was, I suppose, heh – hardly better. By the way, I really pity the one to have to tell Percy Jackson that little old Bunny killed his only son. I suggest drawing straws – twice. First time for who has to tell Percy, second time for who gets the pleasure of breaking the news to Miss Daniels. _

_Yeah, I knew Ker was dead. I didn't tell the Masen kid because, well, it was a pain. Adrianna, the Orpheus method is a great idea and all, but Persephone isn't as generous as she used to be, and Hades is still nowhere to be seen, so good luck. Not to mention that it didn't work out very well for Orpheus._

_Please give my warmest regards to Percy. Preferably, follow these regards with a knife to his skull. _

_ -BP _

xxx

"British Petroleum killed my boyfriend?" Gina glanced up at me, her eyes dry but her voice small and hurt. She looked more like a little girl than I'd ever seen her, and I'd known her since we were eight.

Matt was reading the letter over, his grip on the paper tight and his jaw clenched. "Ignore her, Gina. Really? Sending a letter saying 'Hey, guess what, I'm evil and yes, I _did _kill Jack!' She's just vying for attention. He probably tripped off a cliff and she's taking the credit."

Gina's eyes flashed with dull anger, but she didn't seem to think it was worth it to badger Matt about his exaggeration of Jack's… slightly dim-witted lifestyle.

I heard footsteps, and Anthony Luck joined the party. He was surprisingly gentle with Gina, considering how he was rarely gentle with anything and how she was usually the last person to need to be treated gently.

The minute her eyes fixed on him, Gina leapt up and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. "Anthony, British Petroleum killed Jack."

Anthony was silent, just stroking her hair, like he'd done for poor Aiko when she blew up. I raised my eyebrows. I hadn't realized how they'd bonded when Anthony drove Gina halfway across Montana.

I think I can safely say that I'd never felt more helpless in my life. Not when I learned I didn't have a mother, not when my dad died, not while I watched Sunshine sob out the story of her dream. Gina Daniels had finally broken, and that terrified me. 

**Gina POV**

I pretty much drowned myself in other aspects of my life. First off, I had to beat Adrianna in our duels. The trick to that was to start using my bow again. I relied too much on my Demeter powers.

Like I said earlier, admitting feelings – or just feeling emotion, actually – absolutely kills me. So that's why I buried myself in anything but Jack. I hardly thought about him. I tried not to care. I stayed away from Matt, though. It just seemed… wrong, I guess.

I had just hit my first bulls-eye when I heard applause off to my right. I glanced over to see my half-sister Erin, almost a perfect copy of Demeter, standing in the sidelines. She loped over, and I knew I was either going to get a lecture or a pep talk.

"Gina," she began softly. I gritted my teeth. "Gina, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Have you seen your sister lately?"

"She's standing right next to me."

She smiled faintly. "I meant Sandi."

"She's barely my sister."

"I'm just asking if you've seen her."

"No, I haven't. I don't care."

She paused. "Gina, do you want to talk about it?"

_Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, it doesn't hurt._

I shot another bulls-eye and waited for a while before I answered.

"I'm okay."

She didn't look convinced, but Erin's best feature is her ability to let something go.

"Adrianna says she wants to talk to you," she said finally.

"No," I corrected, eyes still on the target I'd set up for myself. "You mean 'I'm leaving now, Adrianna's coming to talk to you, whether you like it or not.'"

She blushed, and Adrianna appeared at the edge of the arena, walking towards me.

At first glance, it looked like nothing was wrong. Her strides were long and confident, and her pace was fast and steady. But the darkness in her (usually) chipper blue eyes, and the way her head wasn't held high and proud – those little details gave it away that Adrianna wasn't going to get through this week without a good long cry, which I'd never known her to need.

I'd just like to point out that Anthony was, by this point, starting to question the existence of my tear ducts. I don't cry. It's not really my thing, you know?

Next thing I knew, I was looking around for Erin, but she'd been replaced by Adrianna.

"You heard about my Orpheus idea for Freddy, right?" she said. For once, her voice was quiet.

"Yeah. It's a bad idea."

She smiled to herself and lowered her eyes. "That may be, but I can't pull Freddy out of it now." She paused and lowered her voice even further. "He came home expecting to see one girl. Her name was Ker, and she's dead."

"Why are you telling _me_ this?" I knew. Of course I knew. It was obvious, but I was hiding from it. I didn't want to have to make the decision she was about to put in front of me.

I continued to stare at the target and the multiple arrows strewn around on the ground.

"I'm thinking of… expanding my plan," she finally said.

Despite my doubts, my eyes fixed on her intently. "You have my attention."

**A/N: …hehehe.**

"**British Petroleum killed my boyfriend?" That line has been planned for weeks. And Jack's mysterious-and-untimely death has been set since late March. I had a tragedy craving.**


	12. The Ginasaurus has Finally Fallen

**A/N: I hate Mondays.**

**Freddy needs some love.**

**It recently occurred to me that I always describe Anthony as tall, but then I say he's five-eight, not taking his age into account and instead going with a height range that I'm more familiar with. Jack's too. Jack needs a growth spurt, like, NOW. **

**There's this kid named Jack in my math class (if he asks you about Jack Chase, it's a "coincidence") who's rather.. little.. right now, but he claims he's going to come back to see my math teacher someday and he'll be 6'9''. Yeah, Jack, and I'll be a supermodel (and preferably 90 pounds.)**

**Gina POV**

I was going to kill myself someday for this.

I'd done some thinking, and I had made a decision Adrianna hadn't expected me to make.

The morning after Adrianna and I talked in the arena, I went and found her in the Apollo cabin. She was the only one there, and she was looking under her bed for something. She didn't notice me, so I cleared my throat.

"Adrianna, I'm not doing it."

Her head whipped around to face me so fast that her ponytail hit her in the face. She ignored it. "_What_?"

"I'm not doing the Orpheus thing."

"_Why_?"

_Because I'm scared. _I couldn't tell Adrianna that, so I paused and thought for a minute. In that minute, Adrianna stood up and stared at me, as if trying to find something in my face that revealed me to be a robot, like _who are you and what have you done with Gina Daniels?_.

"Listen, Adrianna," I said finally. "I've lost him twice already. I can't get my hopes up and do that again. I just _can't_, Adrianna. It would kill me." I felt a wave of grief, which was replaced by a wave of anger because like I said, I don't cry, and I wasn't going to start now.

"And you know what?" I snapped, realizing that what I was saying was mostly true. "Both times, I've lost him _because of you._"

Unfortunately, Adrianna's not one to sit there and take it. "Oh, you're blaming me now, are you?"

"Adrianna, everyone _knows _Bunny killed him, and _everyone _knows why. If you hadn't convinced him to sit there and do nothing while Bunny, like, _died, _he might still be here."

"Okay, Gina, you _have _to stop shielding him from the world. He's already got two good parents, and that's more than most of us have."

That hit a nerve. Jack's sweet, cozy, ideal little family life had bothered me for years, but I'd ignored it.

"You're lucky, Adrianna," I spat. "You have a mom who loves you and a dad who cares. _That_'s more than most of us have."

"My dad doesn't care any more than Demeter or Aphrodite. And we all have at least one mortal parent."

Okay, she was going to get it now. I could name, just off the top of my head, twenty half-bloods that _didn't _have a mortal parent. Katy. Me. Rose. Nick. Sunshine. Nina.

"Adrianna, what about the Lucks?"

She looked genuinely surprised. "What about them?"

I raised my eyebrows, feeling my own flame of surprise that she didn't know. She and Katy may not have been best friends or anything, but they trusted each other with their lives and told each other everything.

"Their dad's a drunk," I finally answered. I hadn't realized before how boiling mad I was at the guy, and I hadn't even met him. "He dumped them here one day, and that was that."

She still looked like this was new information. "When did that happen?"

"Um, like…" I thought for a second, doing the math. "Seven years ago?"

"Why didn't I hear about this?"

"Why didn't Katy tell you?"

She shook her head. "Katy didn't know that."

That was the real shock. The Aphrodite Cabin was the cabin closest to being a family. They shared more with each other than I did with Jack.

A moment passed where we just stared at each other, before Adrianna grinned weakly and said, "Well, this is awkward then, isn't it?"

xxx

Evidently, Aphrodite had determined that I was overdue for a voodoo demigod dream.

We appeared in a lush meadow, rich with golden flowers. Aphrodite was on her regular four-legged stool one leg thrown over the other and arms folded crossly.

I knew her children well enough to predict what was going to happen next.

"I'm in trouble." I didn't even care. The ever-constant spark of anger in my chest flamed briefly (how dare the goddess of love appear to me after… recent events?) but that was it.

"Oh, yes, you're in trouble.

"Why?" I was broken, and she could tell.

And then – get this. That spark of anger inside me didn't just flame. It grew. It grew really big, really fast. I was mad. I was pissed. I was furious. Furious that a stupid boy had so much power over me. How dare he break me? He didn't have the right. He was just a boy.

Then my fury evolved into all-out rage, because now he was making me lie to myself, too.

Aphrodite read me like a book. She looked sorry for me.

"I'm sorry," she said, clearing her throat daintily. Sometimes, she had the same dainty aura that her daughter Maia possessed. "I had no right to be angry with you." She slid off her stool and started to walk off into the meadow. She looked back at me, once, over her shoulder, and said, "I'm sorry, Gina." The way she said it, I could tell it wasn't an apology for almost chewing me out. No, this was something totally new.

I didn't have time to ponder it before the goddess of love faded, and left me stranded and lonely.

Right back where I started. Again.

xxx

I couldn't get back to sleep after that. It was midnight when I woke up, and after a long hour of shifting around on my pillow, I finally slid out of bed and got up to do what I always did whenever I was upset. I threw on a pair of jeans and a thin gray sweater, and then I slipped out of the Demeter cabin and trekked to the cabin right across from it – Cabin Three.

**Freddy POV**

It was raining. Of course it was raining. All tragic scenes are set in the pouring rain – haven't you learned that by now?

It was also one in the morning, but we were all wide awake, the three of us. That was the whole issue – the three of us.

We heard a soft knock at the door, and Camille nearly tripped over her own feet racing to open it.

A trembling Gina Daniels was standing there, her hair so wet it had turned a dark brown, and her sweater nearly transparent, so you could see the pink tank top beneath it. Camille backed away slowly, not for fear of Gina, but because her walls had finally given way, and the built-up grief was palpable as she stood there in my doorway, lip quivering.

She smiled weakly and then sat heavily on Jack's bed, and then she buried her face in her lap and burst into wracking sobs. Even Camille, who was good at dealing with everyone's emotions, always supportive and sympathetic, seemed at a loss. After a minute, she sat down on the bed next to Gina and put an arm around the younger girl. She glared at Camryn and I and mouthed, _Go get Anthony._

Camryn nodded, but I was frozen. I had known Gina most of my life, and if nothing else, she was as hard as a rock and tough as nails. If she had emotions, she had never shown them. She was any general's ideal picture of the perfect warrior – bloodthirsty, super-powerful, and emotionless. I guess it just kind of gave us all the feeling like, _She's shattered, and you're next._ If Gina couldn't keep herself bottled up, there was no hope for any of the rest of us. Except maybe Ker, and that was the thought that froze my feet to the ground.

I hardly even minded that she was dead. I knew we'd get her back soon, and I was impatient to do so, but what the real fact that tortured me (and I knew it tortured Nick, too – Penelope and the twins aren't the types to be tortured by a thought) was that she was down in her dad's kingdom, exactly where she'd planned to never go. She hated her dad. She didn't even have a real reason to hate him, she just needed someone to hate, with all the anger in her life. I told my mom that (we'd had a conversation over the phone a few days ago) and she said maybe that's why Ker and that Reed guy, the son of Menoetius (titan of anger – I did my research) fit together so well. She was angry, he was angry. There you go.

Luckily, Camryn was still functional enough (when is she _ever _not functional?) to grab my arm and drag me through the rain to Cabin Ten.

"Still sporting that hopeless crush on the son of Aphrodite, I see," she said (loudly, over the rain), with a roll of her eyes. I was shocked for a second before I realized she was talking about Camille, and then I relaxed. That was old news.

"Since when are Anthony and Gina such good friends?"

"Yeah, friends with benefits," she snapped. (She likes to exaggerate.) "Anthony's the one who drove her up to the airport from which she flew to Vermont, where her dad lives. Jack explained it all to me before she got back." She paused for a second after mentioning Jack. "He just so happened to leave out the Anthony-Gina-bonding part, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together." Then she paused again. "Gina needs a punch in the face."

I laughed. Camryn never changes.

She opened the door carefully. The cabin was even more packed than I remembered. Camryn, whose manners had never been her forte, flicked on the light. Two very guilty-looking girls, both with eerily similar glossy black ringlets of hair and bright amber eyes and dark tanned skin, blinked sleepily at us from reddish-pink armchairs. A few of the other Aphrodite kids were starting to wake up, and once they figured out what was going on, they watched my sister and I with angry stares. Rose glared at Camryn, but when she saw me, her face softened.

Unfortunately, that didn't last long. She glared at the older of the girls asleep in the chairs – Nina, the half-titan daughter of Hyperion. (The younger of the girls was Bellatrix Johnson, my good friend and a daughter of Hecate.)

"How long have you been sleeping here?" she snapped. Rose treats the Aphrodite cabin like her children, and she's kind of an overprotective mother.

Nina blinked again and rubbed her eyes. "Um… almost a week now?"

"Always the chair, right?"

Nina's eyes burned like fire again. Rose had hit a nerve. "Why does everyone always jump to conclusions? Please excuse us for being the only teenage couple not dating each other just for sex. Jesus."

Anthony showed signs of life for the first time since Camryn and I had entered the cabin. "What'd I miss?" he mumbled into his pillow.

Aiko leaned over from her place on her own bed to grab a pair of his jeans (you can always tell when jeans lying around the Aphrodite cabin are Anthony's.)

Camryn didn't notice her. "Gina came into our cabin and exploded. Camille told us to come get you."

Anthony was up in a flash, just in time for a pair of blue jeans (thrown by his loving sister) to hit him in the face.

xxx

As I was quickly learning, Nina and Anthony were attached at the hip. Anthony did justify it, though – Nina had lost her mom at about Gina's age, so she had more experience with death than Anthony did. Camryn's questions about Anthony's dad had gotten her nowhere.

Camille had clearly come through, because by the time we got back to the Poseidon cabin, Gina was sitting on the bed, and she was shaking, but not much else. Gods, she looked awful. Her eyes were puffy and red and her face (not to mention her entire body – how long had she stood outside our door before she knocked?) was soaking wet.

She glanced up when we entered, and smiled. "Hi, Anthony." She looked at me. "Freddy, I don't think I ever got to tell you earlier, and we're both here now, so…" She trailed off, and, suddenly, wrapped her arms around me. "Gods, we all missed you so much, Freddy. I'm so glad you're back." She pulled away, wiped her eyes, and smiled apologetically at Anthony and Nina. "Um, would you two mind if I just took a walk with Freddy? I'm sorry I dragged you out of… um, bed."

Nina clenched her jaw, but didn't say anything at Gina's clear question. Anthony didn't notice – he seemed to be more shocked at Gina's unusual politeness, and rightly so.

Before I'd died, Gina and I had been linked solely through Jack and only liked each other for his sake. I guess she hadn't realized how much she'd actually come to like me until I was gone. I'd love to make that sentence sound less conceited by saying I hadn't realized how great she was until I'd spent several months away from her, but I hadn't. I still didn't like her much, but if I refused to comfort her now, my half-nephew's soul would haunt me for the rest of my life. And after seeing her so vulnerable, I don't think I could have rejected her, even if I'd wanted to.

Walking in the woods with Gina with a transparent top on was pretty much Jack's everyday life (it sounded much, much better in my head) but I was unused to it. I guess I hadn't seen her as a person before this. She was like a piece of wood, or better, a punching bag. You couldn't damage her, and no matter how often you swung, she came coming back for more. Every single time.

In retrospect, it was pretty funny when she tripped and landed face first in the mud, because she swore profusely, and right then I thought, _Oh, there she is. _It was like the sun coming out after a big storm.

"Damn it!" she continued angrily. "Who the hell puts a tree root in the middle of a pathway? This path has been here for years."

"Gina?"

She wiped mud out of her eyes and they grew to twice their original size. "Freddy, did you say something?"

I grinned at what she'd tripped over and held out a hand to him. "Welcome back, kiddo."

"Thanks," Jack said, pretty cheery for someone who'd just had his death faked. "But how long was I actually gone?"

Of course, he didn't get an answer, because Gina was screaming and had her arms around his neck and was probably killing him, but he didn't look too upset about that. He just smirked, which was exactly the smirk we'd all been missing.

**A/N: …HEHEHE.**


	13. Ankita Riddle, Daughter of Theia

**A/N: Gina claims to have "lost" Jack twice. She's wrong. The number is sixteen. Heh. **

**Rose POV**

Within six hours of Jack's sudden reappearance (Gina tripped over him in the woods. Freddy said it was funny) Gina was back to Gina-zilla.

Of course, Jack's un-death opened more questions than his "death" had. Gina showed him Bunny's letter at breakfast the next day, and the two of them had a good laugh over that. Gina was still wearing her gray sweater (She seemed to be unprepared to be happy again. The change back to bright, happy colors would be a while. At least it wasn't transparent anymore.)

"'A knife to his skull,'" Jack quoted, laughing. "You've got to be kidding me. You guys took this seriously?"

Gina giggled too, but she was still occasionally wiping her eyes on her sleeve, and when she pulled her arm away, the sleeve was wet. Her hair was in a rare ponytail, and she wasn't wearing green, and she was constantly shaky with relief and just being so overwhelmed – it was like she wasn't Gina Daniels anymore.

Everyone who'd known Gina well – Katy and Anthony especially, and me included because I'd made it my business to know her inside and out, because it was Adrianna's knowledge of her weaknesses that broke Jack-and-Gina up to being just Jack and Gina – seemed really freaked out and concerned. It was terrifying to see her like this. She was almost as bad when she was happy as when she was sad.

Unfortunately, what comes up must come down, and Adrianna wasn't going to waste any time. She brought me, Freddy, Gina, and Jack to an empty table for one of the minor gods who had no children. Iris or Hypnos, probably.

Adrianna glared at Gina. "Not you, sweetheart."

Gina looked taken aback. "Why not?"

"Well, first of all, because you look completely unstable. You're going to crack – _again _– at any minute. Secondly, because if you two"-she indicated Jack and Gina-"are going to be sticking together like glue, I'm going to have to avoid you both, because this is just disgusting."

"Aw, look, Gina, Adrianna's jealous," Jack teased.

Gina smiled weakly.

Adrianna turned her death stare to Jack, but continued speaking to Gina. "Go back and find Katy."

"No way," Katy said, loping over from the Aphrodite table. "I want to hear this. Gina, go find Daphne."

"Daphne Dawson? Eric's ex-girlfriend?" The daughter of Demeter just looked confused.

"Eric's ex-girlfriend and, more importantly, ex-_best _friend," Katy corrected. "I've been doing some investigating of my own. Go over and ask her about Eric. She'll be happy to tell you anything you want to know."

Adrianna looked a little bit surprised with Katy's stroke of genius. Jack scowled at the mention of Eric. I had to agree with everything Adrianna had been saying – unstable was the perfect word for Gina's appearance. She wasn't really going insane, but she had gone from heartbroken to immensely relieved in a matter of moments earlier that morning, and the roller coaster was taking its toll on her.

Gina frowned, but jogged off to the Apollo kids' table to go find Daphne. She was Adrianna's sister (obviously), one of the prettier ones, with skin like chocolate and dark brown hair. Her bright blue eyes were in huge contrast with the rest of her coloring, so they gave her an enchanting, exotic appearance. She always had a crown of laurel in her hair.

Katy took her place at the table, pursed her lips, and folded her arms, looking business-like.

"Is she okay?" Jack asked immediately. He meant Gina, of course.

Freddy smiled and said, "That's the problem, kid."

Jack still looked confused, so I elaborated. "She's _too _okay."

"I was only gone for a couple hours."

Katy snorted, then there was silence for a second as, one by one, we caught on and realized he was dead serious (such a bad, bad pun. Totally ruined the mood.)

Adrianna's eyes were huge, and it occurred to me that I was the only one at the table without blue eyes.

The red-haired daughter of Apollo didn't get a chance to fill him in when a wiry girl with black hair came strutting up. When she sat down, there was a ferocious hiss from under the table, and Pluto, Ker's cat, shot out like a soft, fluffy, adorable bullet. The girl was unfazed, while I pulled my feet up onto the bench beside me and Katy gave a little shriek.

"Most animals don't like me," the girl said. Then she thought for a moment and corrected herself. "Most _things _don't like me." She seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen her.

Jack, on the other hand, had a great brain for remembering people. "Ankita, right? Daughter of Theia, Titan of sight and enlightenment?"

She nodded, looking pleased that someone knew her name. "Ankita Riddle, at your service, Jack Chase, son of Percy Jackson."

Jack wrinkled his nose, but didn't say anything. Jack would give anything to be an ordinary son of Poseidon, but even the children of Poseidon had pressure on them to become the next Percy Jackson. Just less pressure.

Ankita continued on. "You all remember how I said Bunny was hiding something?"

We nodded, but privately, I was still confused. What was she getting at? We all knew what Bunny had been hiding. She was _evil._

Ankita was smart enough to see through our fake confidence and looked amused. "Well, yes, Bunny was evil. Yes, I believe she did have a plan to stage Jack's death for a very long time. She hates you, you know," she said, her voice suddenly soft. She looked at Jack as if she couldn't read him quite as easily as she read us, her onyx-colored eyes showing a glimmer of some emotion I couldn't quite place.

Jack was surprisingly (thought, if you think about it, it was totally justified) angry at this new piece of information. He completely skipped over the "stage Jack's death" and instead, paid attention to the "very long time" and immediately read between the lines on "she hates you."

"Of course she does!" he snapped, his voice rising. Jack never raised his voice. Ever. Like, seriously, ever. "That's just perfect. And you know the worst part? We all totally and completely fell for it!"

"He's right," Adrianna said gravely. Her blue eyes were cast down slightly, but fixed on nothing in particular. Her fists were clenched by her sides. "He's right. We walked right into a trap."

Ankita nodded, but she wasn't going to waste time moping. Her deep gaze shifted to Freddy. "People are hiding something from you, too, son of Poseidon." Then her eyes hardened. "But you have a job to concentrate on right now." Her focus switched to Adrianna, having realized that Adrianna was the ringleader of the Orpheus project. "Hades will not be gone for much longer. He will not bend the rules for even his daughter. You are relying too heavily on your own father's protection. You need to realize this, daughter of Apollo – you are capable of taking care of yourself."

Her emotionless stare switched subjects one last time. "Rose Hamilton, you have to realize this." She had dropped the formality. "You are selfish, Rose."

Before I was calm enough to see straight, she was gone. She had left me in a haze of emotions – confusion, guilt, anger, defiance, the whole bit. Freddy and Jack both looked concerned, which of course made me feel even more guilty, because these two stupid boys still had hopeless crushes on me (no matter how buried deep in those little crumbly things most humans call hearts) despite all I'd done. For a second, I felt sick to my stomach, which did not improve when Freddy put a hand on my arm and asked me if I was okay.

"I'm okay," I murmured.

"Let's get back down to business," Adrianna said, not meeting my eyes. She seemed embarrassed about what Ankita had said. Not that any of us bought it. Adrianna? Insecure? Yeah, when Jack grows a brain.

"I agree," Jack put in. "First of all, can we back up to before I 'died?'" He put air quotes around the last word.

"You disappeared. Sunshine received a dream showing your death and judgment. You went to Tartarus. It was funny." Adrianna rushed through the words. "Bunny left a note somewhere staking a claim on your death. Anthony found the note. Gina saw the note." She paused to shudder. Jack's eyes widened.

"It was really awful, Jack," Freddy said quietly. "That night we found you, she came into my cabin at one in the morning, sat down on your bed, and just starting sobbing."

Jack was biting his lip, like he wanted to hear more but wasn't quite sure how much of it he would be able to take.

I made the decision for him. "It was beyond horrible," I burst out. "That night she read the note? She was a mess. She totally collapsed onto Anthony, and the rest of the time she spent somewhere alone. She hasn't spoken to anyone much. Not even Matt, Mila, or Sandi."

"I have my own personal doubts about Mila," Adrianna said softly. She had noticed the look on Jack's face and stopped my rant right then and there. "She's too perfect. She's too pretty, and too stable for a girl who lost her mother almost a month ago. I mean, look at Nina. She lost her mother _two years ago_, and I love her and all, but we all have to agree that she's still kind of shaky."

"What does beauty have to do with it?" I protested.

Jack turned on me, his blue eyes cold and hard. "We said the same thing about you. Look where that got me."

"I think she's hiding something," Katy agreed.

"No," Freddy said, shaking his head. "She doesn't seem all that bad."

"Oh, gods, not another one of those 'innocent until proven guilty' types," Adrianna groaned, getting up to pace.

"He's right, though," Jack said innocently.

"It runs in the family, apparently," the redhead (she throws a fit every time she's referred to as a "ginger") groaned again.

"Can we get back to the Bunny-Jack incident?" I snapped, not wanting to explore my evil intents all over again.

Jack frowned. "It all really fits – I mean, I'm here, aren't I? So of course it was a fake." He paused. "Except one thing. How did that dream get to Sunshine?"

Even Adrianna didn't have an answer to that. I thought for a moment, then the light bulb above my head flickered on. "I got it!" I didn't give them a chance to question me. "Katy," I said excitedly. "Don't you remember those dreams you had about me and Jack?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "You were trying to get him over to 'the dark side.'"

Jack caught on. "That's what convinced Gina to quit the Hunters."

"Right," I continued, still excited. "Bunny wanted Gina here. Maybe to play with your emotions, maybe something else. Her motive for that doesn't matter anymore." I turned to my sister again. "Katy, how did Bunny get you those dreams?"

"Well," Katy said, "first of all, she told us they were fake, which is apparently untrue."

"But how did she get you those dreams?"

"She said she asked her friend to send them."

"What was her friend's name?"

Katy frowned and tried desperately to remember the exact name, but Jack's eyes widened as he figured out what I was getting out. "Katy, was it Morpheus?"

"Yeah! That was it. Morpheus."

Freddy grinned. "Morpheus, god of dreams."

Adrianna's remained stone-faced. "Morpheus, god of dreams with the power of eternal sleep. Jack, looks like we've found the murder weapon."


	14. The Definition of Utter Pricelessness

**A/N: Today, I learned a valuable lesson. If you're going to consider yourself in love with and married to a fictional character, make sure he's straight first. Like, SERIOUSLY, ALEC? "Isabelle, is Alec gay?" SHJDKJFH,JNFJGHMCVNVM,CV ooh hey it's Eminem LESSTHANTHREE.**

**OKAY so here's how it really happened-**

**Fox: Isabelle, is Alec gay?**

**Isabelle: NO, FOX, HE LOVES YOU. GO GET MARRIED NOW.**

**^^^This is what happens when I take a day off from writing to read a book, especially books with hot young lads.**

**I obviously do not own Alec and Isabelle Lightwood nor The Mortal Instruments series and, unfortunately, most likely never will. **

**My cat just ran behind my bureau and I'm pretty sure she can't get out. Heh.**

**The following scene is to prove a point, and that point is the ****NONEXISTENCE OF JACKXANTHONY.**

**Rose POV**

Sandi Daniels went about two days without pissing anyone off.

We were hanging around the Aphrodite cabin, as usual. Anthony and Nina were, as always, hanging around in a corner. Aiko was on her bed, reading the last few scenes of _Romeo and Juliet._ Jack and Gina were speaking in low voices about something toward the back of the cabin. We left them alone – I (and Adrianna too, I knew) had made a silent decision not to swoop in on Jack until Gina was okay. Bellatrix and Freddy were in a similar situation as Jack and Gina (except that they weren't suppressing the need to jump on each other and start making out or something), talking about Freddy's plan to go to the Underworld to pick up Ker. Sandi, who we didn't know well enough at the time to know she was a disaster waiting to happen, was curled up on one of the unoccupied beds, reading a book. Adrianna was looking over her shoulder, no doubt having already finished the book and three others in the series, too.

"I love Alec and Isabelle," Adrianna quipped.

Sandi nodded vigorously. "They're great." Her gaze (which was eerily similar to Gina's) flicked to Anthony and Nina. "Actually, Anthony, Aiko, they remind me of you two. You know, the younger, eccentric sister, and the older, gay brother." In Sandi's defense, her face was completely honest – she really believed what she was saying, which made it even worse.

Nina groaned, and Anthony turned bright red.

"Oh, dear gods, she pressed the button." Bellatrix's curls whipped her in the face as she and Freddy turned to stare at Sandi. She was right. Nothing pisses off Anthony more than people assuming he's gay. Seriously, it may _blow your mind _or something, but not every child of Aphrodite likes boys.

"What?" she demanded.

Adrianna, of course, found this very, very funny. "Damn it, Jack," she giggled. "Your secret affair with Anthony has been publicized."

That earned her the icy stares of Jack and Gina. Anthony was still glaring at Sandi, and Nina's eyes were flicking between her boyfriend and Gina's sister.

Suddenly Adrianna (who was becoming increasingly skilled at changing the subject) seemed to have an idea. "Hey, Jack!" she said excitedly. "Does Morpheus have any children?"

Jack blinked, then pondered for a minute. "Yeah, I think so."

"A daughter," Gina put in.

"Well then, let's take a little trip to meet her, shall we?" Adrianna grinned wickedly.

**Gina POV**

Adrianna let me come along on this little errand. Daphne hadn't had anything interesting for me – just a bunch of sob stories.

The daughter of Apollo had instructed only Jack and I to accompany her to the Morpheus cabin, because she said she and Freddy were setting off for Hades's kingdom as soon as she was done with Morpheus's daughter.

The daughter of Morpheus was a girl, about my age, with hair so pale it was closer to white than blond, and blue eyes. Her eyes weren't sky-blue like Adrianna's or Jack's – they were the color of dreams. Pale, foggy blue.

She tapped her foot expectantly, waiting for us to make the first move.

"Hi," Adrianna spluttered finally. "I'm Adrianna Powers, and these are-"

"I know who they are," the girl said. "But they don't know who I am. No one does. I am invisible here." She opened the door wider and walked inside. "Come in, come in. I am Lily Klein-Rhodes. I won't bite." She gestured to a few poofy powder-blue chairs in a corner. She sat down in one, and glared at Jack as he slowly took his seat directly across from her.

"Well, well." Her tone was icy, almost mocking. "Who would've thought? The son of the great Percy Jackson, gracing his presence upon my humble self." The sarcasm was heavy in her voice. "What do you need?" She was ignoring me and Adrianna, her focus entirely on Jack.

"I'm not like my dad," he muttered, not meeting her eyes.

Lily laughed. "That's no secret, Jack." She noticed the hurt flash across his face and her laughter subsided. "I'm not cruel. Just honest."

Anger flared up inside me. _No one _told Jack that. _No one. _It was apparent enough to him without anyone saying anything. Even Adrianna, who was always brutally honest, had always told him he was great, a hero, just like his parents. Everyone who didn't hate him just didn't say anything, and those of us who loved him – me, Katy, Adrianna (Katy and Adrianna viewed him as a brother – Adrianna was creeping towards more than that, but she didn't love him like I did), the twins, Freddy, Penelope, you get the drill – we lied to him. It was a crappy thing, to be growing up in a world your father saved with no huge disasters going on. Percy Jackson had saved the world – Jack _couldn't _save the world. The world didn't need saving.

While I was silently ranting like a demented revolutionary, Lily and Jack stared at each other. Lily's dreamy blue eyes were filled with pity. Adrianna watched them with narrowed eyes.

"Lily, we need your help," Adrianna said finally.

Morpheus's daughter didn't take her eyes off of Jack. "No, you don't."

"You're right," he spat, standing up. "Come on, Gina, we don't need her."

I gripped the arms of my chair, looking up at him in shock. He never refused anyone's help. He was willing to do whatever he needed to do, every time. He would give up a little bit of dignity, he would take some hits to his pride, just as long as it helped him along to his destination.

"Jack, the sooner we leave, the sooner I'm gone for several days," Adrianna said sharply. "We have to do this now, or we might not get another chance."

Lily and Jack's eyes were locked on each other. He didn't even seem to hear Adrianna. Lily had all of his attention.

"For years," she whispered hoarsely, so quietly that Adrianna leaned forward to hear her more clearly. I stayed frozen in my chair. "For years, you ignored me. You've never acknowledged my existence. Tell me why, Jack Chase, son of Perseus Jackson, I should help you."

Jack, slowly, lowered himself into his chair again. Clearly he and Lily had forgotten Adrianna and me. There was a long beat of silence, while Adrianna fidgeted. I wasn't sure what was going on with Jack, so I was still frozen.

"Because…," Jack finally spluttered. "Because, because…."

"Because my father intended to keep you in those woods forever," she said softly.

"Yeah," Adrianna said loudly, desperately trying to break whatever connection was going on between them.

"You've had your heart broken one too many times, haven't you, Jack?" Lily's voice fell to a whisper again. "You poor thing. Don't pity her. She broke you again and again. I know the minor gods well. This is just Nemesis paying her back, Jack. She'll get over it."

Jack flinched. "I don't like seeing her get hurt."

"She'll be fine, Jack. She's resilient, that one."

"I still don't like it." He snapped out of whatever spell she'd put on him. "How do you know so much, anyway?"

Lily's lips crept into a smile. "It's written all over your face."

**Freddy POV**

"What did the daughter of Morpheus say?" I asked Adrianna, as we clambered into a cab.

"Central Park, please," Adrianna said to the driver, shoving thirty bucks at him. The driver looked surprised, but took off as soon as I pulled the door closed behind me.

"Gods, just a lot of freaky shit with Jack," she said hurriedly. "It was downright scary. Gina didn't move the whole time, even when Jack and Lily started talking about her at the end. It was pretty funny, because it was so clear who they were talking about."

I could tell she didn't want to discuss it. "Do you have your flute?"

"Yup."

"And the sheet music?"

"A-yup. I can't wait. I love this piece."

"Where is this Door of Orpheus, anyway?"

"Oh, southern Central Park, I think. That's what Jack said, at least."

I paused and then had an idea. "Adrianna, once we get in the Underworld, do we know where we're going?"

She swore, evidently not having thought of that. She whipped out her cell phone and dialed the only other half-blood we knew had a phone – Gina Daniels.

"Gina!" she said hurriedly. "Can you send Richard and Melissa after us? Tell them Central Park. Southern Central Park. Get Anthony to drive them or something." She smiled widely. "Thanks, Gina! And keep Jack away from that Lily girl – I don't trust her." She hung up the phone and pocketed it.

"Why don't you trust Lily?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, Freddy," she said, half sorrowful and half sour. "You trust people too much. You remember what I said? Freaky shit with Jack. It was so weird – it was like she put a spell on him or read his mind or something." She shuddered.

"_So weird,_" she repeated after a moment.

She seemed to be bent on staring out the window, her form rigid. I didn't know which of the "freak chicks," as she called them, was creeping her out more – Lily or Ankita.

Of all the people I was dealing with right now, I knew Adrianna the least. She was the only one – besides Bunny – who I hadn't known before I died. I'd even met Katy, but Adrianna was sucked into the demigod world at almost exactly the time I was sucked out.

I had been given no time to get to know her. I liked Katy well enough, because it only took one conversation to really know her – she wasn't sneaky like Adrianna was. From what I could see, Adrianna and Bunny were almost exactly alike. The only real differences were 1) One liked the Red Sox and the other preferred the Yankees, and 2) One was on our side, and the other was not.

That wasn't very comforting.

**Rose POV**

Jack and I were hanging around in the Poseidon cabin when Gina strutted in, apology in hand.

It was a tape measure. A bright yellow tape measure.

"Why does she have that?" I whispered to Jack.

He rolled his eyes. "I don't know, but trust me, she's come in here carrying much weirder things than a tape measure."

Gina laughed and used an annoying, squeaky voice, as if she was mimicking someone (except that she was mimicking herself.) "Jack, my bra strap snapped. Do you have any duct tape?"

He smiled. "What's with the tape measure, Gina?"

She stretched the tape out. "We're going to see how tall you are!" she said excitedly.

Jack's eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously. "I'd rather not."

"Jack, when was the last time we did this?"

"October."

"And how tall were you then?"

"Four-eleven."

She smirked. "And it's July. I'm putting my money on five-two this time."

"Why?"

She kicked off her shoes and stood next to him. "Rose, how many inches are between the top of his head and the top of mine?"

I scowled. She was irritating me. "A couple of inches. Three or four at the most."

Gina nodded and thrust the end of the tape at Jack, you know, the little metal piece at the end that hooks onto stuff for about ten seconds and then comes hurtling back at you. "Step on this." He did so, and Gina brought the plastic piece containing the rest of the tape to the top of his head. "Five-one. I told you."

He scowled at her. "How tall is Anthony?"

"Six-three," I replied.

He glared pointedly at Gina, who grinned sheepishly.

He needed to further prove his point, so he asked me, "How tall are you?"

"Me? I'm… hm." I thought for a moment. "Five… eight or nine? My mom's pretty tall."

Gina smiled in this semi-seductive way and her voice got all honeyed. She hadn't done that in a while – she had this oddly persuasive way of coating her words. "Actually, Jack, I came here to apologize." She paused. "I was thinking… well, I'm sorry I broke up with you so suddenly and so harshly. I was thinking, maybe, we could, like, start over or something. Pretend it never happened." She bit her lip.

She was putting Jack in a crappy spot, and she knew that as well as I did. It would've been easy for someone like me to reject an ex, because I have this inner bitch in me that lets me do anything. Jack doesn't have that. He's too sweet to cut the threads she was hanging onto his heart with.

He came through for me that one time.

He shifted awkwardly. "Sorry, Gina. I kind of want to… mingle, you know? Get out there and meet the other fish in the sea." He smiled, and the smile held a touch, the teeniest hint, the smallest trace, of mocking. "Have fun with Matt."

The look on Gina's face was one without a price.

**A/N: Gina = Pwned.**


	15. Jack Is Going to Love This

**A/N: So, yeah, Jack and Gina are finally getting to the hard stuff surrounding their love lives. Surprisingly, I'm excited. I'm a romantic, but only the fast-paced sexy stuff, not the emotional sappiness. It's very complicated.**

**I don't own Sky High, which is an **_**awesome **_**movie, and I wish I still had it on my DVR, because it's hilariously similar to Gina and Jack. In fact, the main character and his best friend (with benefits) in the movie are so much like Jack and Gina that I felt like a copycat, which leads to the following…**

**Confession time: When I was writing Chapter 2 of HMPWI, it was while Gina was saying, "I'm a daughter of-" when I decided on her god parent. It's worked out nicely, though, wouldn't you say? **

**Thank you to all those few-and-far-between websites who actually know what the keres were and have information about them posted. **

**Gina POV**

When I opened the door to the Demeter cabin at 8 A.M. the day after Jack re-dumped me, Myrtle Jones, one of the youngest daughters of Aphrodite, holding a DVD case.

She tapped the case impatiently. "You. Me. Jack. In one hour. Aphrodite cabin."

I rubbed my eye sleepily. "What's this about?"

"Maia doesn't care about your failed romance – she's got her money, so she's done with the two of you," she rambled, totally ignoring me. "I put my money on you and Jack, and I intend to follow through with it."

I liked Myrtle even more now than I had before. She wasn't like her picture-perfect sister, Rose, or Rose's blond, thirteen-year-old clone, Maia. She had skin the color of honey combined with brown sugar, making it glow like a woodland forest, and a smattering of freckles across her nose. Her thick curly hair was a soft red with hints of brown, like autumn leaves. And best of all, she had square glasses over her cognac-brown eyes. The glasses really worked on her, made her even more beautiful than she would've been without them – all the Aphrodite girls were beautiful – but somehow, her defying the perfect stereotype of a daughter of Aphrodite was comforting.

But who am I to talk about being _comforted _by the breaking of a stereotype set by children of Aphrodite? I'm not bragging – actually, I'd rather be more average-looking – but with my high cheekbones and bright green eyes, a bunch of the guys at school (a.k.a. Jack's school, which I hated and had only gone to for ninth grade because of Katy) had stared at me like I'd fit right in with Rose. Well, actually, they stared at me because they were convinced Jack and I were sleeping together (yes, even for that half of the year when we _weren't _dating) and, well, Jack's five feet tall, and he wasn't exactly allowed to use Ass-Kicker (which Bunny refused to recognize as anything but Riptide) to decapitate any guy who hit on me. The worst part was that I wasn't, either.

Basically, my "lover" (and probably, in some of the rumors, father of my unborn child – ick) wasn't exactly intimidating, and I was a girl, which meant I couldn't _possibly_ punch _anyone_ out.

Myrtle waved her hand in front of my face, pulling me out of my reminiscing. "Hello? Gina? Did you hear me?"

I examined the DVD case more carefully. It was _Sky High, _that superhero movie that came out a few years ago. I saw it at a girls' slumber party forever ago, but I still didn't remember enough of it see why Myrtle was making me watch it.

"Isn't that a Disney movie?" I asked, yawning.

Myrtle looked irritated. "Cut me a break, I'm _twelve. _Anyway, I think it has a meaning appropriate for the two of you."

"The two of who? What meaning?" I'm a zombie before noon. It's one of the reasons I prefer not to go to school.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, well, it's about this kid. His parents are superheroes. Like, the greatest of all time." She raised her eyebrows. "And he hasn't gotten any powers yet. You following me? Anyway, he has this best friend whose name I never remember, and her super power is that she can control plants and she's totally badass at it. She's been in love with him since forever, but she's never gotten the guts to tell him." She grinned mischievously. "And there's this other girl that the super-kid likes, and she's really pretty. It's just kind of one of those she's-pretty-so-I'm-obligated-to-love-her crushes. You have experience with those, don't you?" I couldn't tell if she meant my traumatizing school experience or Jack's she's-pretty-so-I'm-obligated-to-love-her crush on Rose. I was guessing the latter. "So anyway, he starts dating her, while this plant girl is ready to tell super-kid she loves him. But, of course, he's dating the pretty one. So then at the end of the movie, it turns out the pretty one is evil." She laughed, and I smiled. "And super-kid realizes he truly loves Plant Girl and then they suck face or something and then the movie ends."

"If you just told me the whole plot, do I still have to see it?"

Her smile faded and she bit her lip. "Darn.. well, I guess at least you got the message now."

I wanted to smile. She reminded me so much of Katy. There were three types of Aphrodite campers – hopeless romantics, whores and future whores, and Aiko. Go ahead and guess who goes where.

"Charming, Myrtle."

She grinned.

xxx

Hours after the Myrtle episode, Matt came to find me. He found me lying on my bed listlessly, a plate of cake on my chest.

I was depressed. I'd been rejected by the guy _I _dumped. Oh, the karma.

He sat on the edge of my bed and raised an eyebrow. "Cake?"

I nodded.

"You're going to get fat if you keep it up, you know that, right?"

"You're honest."

He shrugged. "Yeah, sorry. Mila and I have that in common. Which reminds me, I have to tell you something." He bit his lip, and I narrowed my eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, well… you're going to be mad at me."

"You didn't kill Jack, right?"

"Right."

"Anthony? Katy? Erin?"

"I didn't kill anyone."

"Well, then, there are very few things I would be mad at you about, so shoot."

"Mila's an assassin."

I did a double-take, positive I hadn't heard him correctly. "Um, what?"

"Well, more of a bounty hunter, really. She kills half-bloods."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. Then I did the weirdest thing – I held my head in my hands and I burst out laughing.

Matt looked appalled. "What? Don't you believe me?"

I nodded, giggling. "Yeah, it's just so… so… so _stupid. _It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

He glared at me. "In sixth grade, your best friend's mom took the two of you to the emergency room because you convinced her that her son had swallowed one of your tampons. Tell me that's not more ridiculous than a sadist with a passion."

I frowned and deliberated. Annabeth had been hysterical. It was hilarious. The stupid thing was that a couple of twelve-year-olds managed to convince the smartest daughter of Athena in existence that her son had swallowed something larger than a quarter (which I'm pretty sure is impossible.)

"So, pray tell," I said. "Why does your older sister kill half-bloods?"

"She likes it," he said simply.

My eyes doubled in size and my jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

He nodded vigorously. "And it's not just her. There are a bunch of them, mostly all in Vermont. Mostly a bunch of girls. You wouldn't believe the type of show they're running up there."

I decided to do what Adrianna would do: I sucked in my laughter and got serious, business-like. "Tell me everything you know about them."

He nodded once, curtly. "What's important now is this – when they have their sights set on a certain half-blood, they dispatch one of their girls – there are so few guys, it's disturbing. Mila says it's because their ringleader is obsessed with feminine power." He noticed me glaring and quickly got back on track. "They dispatch one of their girls to the half-blood's area. Mila is here for a reason. As far as every anti-demigod party on Earth is concerned, there are two demigods whose murderer would get his or her name engraved in stone and a gold statue in the village square."

"Get to the point, dammit." I was starting to sound like a spaceship commander on some dramatic movie while my lieutenant told me our engines were failing.

I knew who he was talking about, or at least I was pretty sure I did.

He held up two fingers and said, "King and queen of Camp Half-Blood. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase."

I had never hated being right so much. And it was about to get worse, I knew.

"I know my sister, and I know she's not stupid. She's not about to burst into the apartment of two people who have been using swords for twenty years. And I know the girl who's calling the shots isn't stupid either, and I know she wouldn't send Mila on a suicide mission. She only does that to people she doesn't like." He grinned. "Kidding. I think. So of course Mila's not here to kill _them. _And if she's not here to kill them, you know who she _is _here for."

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands again. "Promise me something, Matt."

"Anything, Gina."

"Jack hears _nothing _of this."

**Freddy POV**

"This place gives me the creeps," Melissa muttered, tucking a strand of light blond hair behind her ear.

"You can say that again," Richard agreed, putting his arm around her.

"If you two are going to make it blatantly obvious that you like each other, why don't you just hook up?" Adrianna asked, her face straight and honest.

Melissa closed her eyes and said, "As a daughter of Pallas, Titan of battle, I feel obligated to kick your ass."

"As a daughter of Apollo, god of many things including truth, I feel obligated to take up your challenge."

"Mel, leave her alone," Richard said softly. "It's not the time to be decapitating the gods' favorites."

"Yeah, we've got a job to do," I agreed. The Underworld was just as I remembered it, so I wasn't all that freaked out. Melissa was the only one voicing her fear, but Richard and Adrianna were visibly nervous.

"Speaking of which, where're we going, Richard?" Adrianna asked cheerfully.

Richard furrowed his brow. "Um.. well, I've never been to this part of the Underworld, so I'm not exactly sure. The way I've always imagined it, there should be a pretty direct path from the door of Orpheus down to Hades's – at the moment Persephone's – throne room."

"Persephone will help us," Adrianna said, sounding as if she needed to convince herself as well as us. "She liked Bunny, and she's not as tight on the rules as Hades. She'll help us."

"You know who would be great to have around in this situation?" Melissa muttered. Richard still had his arm around her. She paused dramatically. "Percy Jackson."

She looked at Richard, and the two of them burst into laughter at the pure absurdity of the idea.


	16. Yes, We Want the Girl, Stupid

**A/N: So… yeah…**

**I recognize the fact that Gina is being over-loved and I apologize profusely.**

**I was looking up phobias, trying to find "fear of car accidents" (didn't find anything), and I've found three references to Hades/The Underworld- Plutophobia (fear of wealth), Stygiophobia (fear of Hell – I'm willing to be "Stygio" comes from the Styx) and Hadephobia (fear of Hell.) And then I found a reference to Zeus but I WON'T TELL IT TO YOU because Zeus SUCKSSS. Screw Edward and Jacob – I could make t-shirts saying "TEAM ZEUS" in blue and "TEAM HADES" in red :x (I WANT ONE NOW…) **

**No, seriously, where do I get one of those?**

**Freddy POV**

"You want the girl." Persephone was staring at us incredulously.

"Um...," I stammered, almost intimidated. We'd come so far – I was afraid to mess up our chances of bringing Ker home.

"What Freddy means to say," Adrianna snapped, clearly not having the same worries, "is 'Um, yes, that's what I've been trying to tell you for the past ten minutes, Persephone.'"

Persephone frowned slightly. "Why should I let her go?"

"Because you let Eurydice go," I said, trying desperately to contribute and not sit on the sidelines like some moron.

"Hm," she mused. "But Orpheus was sweet. Brave, heroic. Things have changed since his time. You are different from Orpheus in many ways."

"Like what?" I asked, not willing to let her win this battle.

"Men are not so chivalrous anymore. You are not in love with Ker, nor she with you. Though I must say, it's very close. Shame you two didn't realize that before you died." She paused for a moment before resuming her list. "I love my husband. Eurydice was not his daughter, so I had no prior opinion of her." She paused again, and then her face lit up as if she'd just thought of something. "I want Bunny Parker's head adorning my throne."

"I've killed her once," Adrianna said, uncharacteristically quiet. "I don't want to put Jack through that again."

I stared at her. Jack hadn't mentioned to me that he and his new girlfriend (or, rather, one of his new "almost-girlfriends") were homicidal.

She noticed me looking, and turned on me, angry. "I had no choice. She was evil. Eric's the one who stabbed her, Jack and I just let her die. It was a group effort."

Persephone was pacing in front of her and her husband's thrones. "If I give you the girl, you'll make sure I never have to hear from Bunny again? You'll keep her away from my husband?"

"Ker first," I piped up.

Adrianna nodded, the gesture cold and fierce.

"Of course," Persephone said, her voice coated with honey. "Just prove to me that you have a lead on Bunny. Someone who might know her, perhaps?"

Adrianna lit up. "My mom! My mom knows her. And Freddy's, too."

I wasn't thrilled with her offering my mom up for the job – my mom was a meek woman, the sort of woman who'd once been a shy, bookwormy girl and grown up into a shy woman, with three kids and little time for books.

Persephone seemed to have expected this answer. She smiled. She was beautiful, that goddess. "There's one more woman who might remember her. She went to high school with Lucy and Emma, but she was in middle school with Bunny, briefly. Her name was Steph Peters."

Adrianna's brow furrowed. "How're we supposed to find her?"

The goddess's smile widened. "You already have. I said her name _was _Steph Peters. Nowadays, I believe she goes by Stephanie Daniels."

"How likely is that?" Adrianna snapped.

"Almost impossible," Persephone replied, a twinkle in her eye. I was totally lost. Stephanie Daniels didn't seem to ring a bell. Melissa and Richard looked equally confused.

Adrianna whipped out her phone. "Do I have service down here?"

Persephone rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"

Adrianna scowled and reluctantly put the phone away. "We'll call her later."

"Who?" Richard asked before I could.

"Gina."

Richard nodded, but Melissa furrowed her brow. "I don't see the logic behind that," she said.

I had an idea. "She's Gina's step-mother, isn't she?"

Adrianna nodded.

"Still not thrilled with the physical improbability of the situation," Richard muttered.

Melissa pursed her lips. "I don't like it much, either."

Adrianna scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You two are just like Jack. Always wanting everything to be concrete."

I ignored her. "So, do we get Ker?"

Persephone smiled. "Yeah, sure. Actually, we've been waiting for you."

She was so fast, I didn't even get to see her face before she ran out from behind Persephone's throne, coiled her arms around me, and buried her face in my chest.

"Gods, Freddy," she half-sobbed – Ker, who never cried about anything. "I've missed you so much."

**Rose POV**

"I'm still not seeing your motives, Bunny," the man said. He seemed oddly familiar – I knew I'd seen him somewhere, but I wasn't sure where.

Bunny was panting slightly, a dagger sharp in her hand. There was a practice dummy torn halfway to shreds in front of her.

"I know what I'm doing, Hades."

"You're doing this for no reason."

She relaxed from her fighting stance and looked at him, blue eyes flashing.

Hades sighed. "You've been lying to these kids since day one. Why?"

She pursed her lips. "You go ask all those kids, 'Who's Percy Jackson,' and they'll all know. You go ask all those kids 'Who's Bunny Parker,' now, and check your results."

"You're doing this for _publicity_?"

She turned her head away and refused to look at him.

He shook his head. "Bunny, I look at you and I can't the twelve-year-old girl I found sitting in my wife's throne. I don't see the sixteen-year-old girl who met Anna Cabot and laughed that her sister's name was Maria. The nineteen-year-old girl who annoyed Charon until he tried to shove you into the Styx. I see the thirty-three-year-old woman who's trying to dethrone Poseidon's favorite son. The seventeen-year-old who named my daughter was too smart to do something like this."

Bunny scowled fiercely. "Keres was a bad idea. She hates that name."

"It's a fine name."

"Hades, I'm begging you. Let me do what I need to."

He ignored her, and instead sat down on a rock nearby. He lowered his voice. "How did you die, Bunny?"

Tears spurted to her eyes, but didn't leak out. "Like you don't know."

"I want to hear it from you."

She closed her eyes. "Eric got to me. He left me to bleed. Adrianna came by, with Jack not far behind her. They left me to bleed, too."

She turned to me, and the dream faded to black around her.

"Rose," she spat. "You, who betrayed me so quickly. So quickly, just for Percy's boy. Wasn't that it? Poor Jacky. Always needing Rose, or Gina. Every time." She sneered. "You'll regret it, Rose, but maybe I'll give you one last chance to redeem yourself…"

A hand shook me awake. "Rose? Rose, are you okay?"

I grunted and nodded.

"Sorry, Rose, but you've got to get up."

Anthony, you're a bastard. "Go away."

"C'mon, Rosie, this is important."

"Good gods, never call me that, Anthony." But I sat up, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

Eric laughed softly. "Really, Rose?"

I wasn't all that shocked to see him. He was exactly the type to pull something like this.

I ignored him. "What is it with us and dragging people out of bed?"

"I need to talk to you."

I rolled my eyes, but grabbed a shirt to pull over my tank top. I left the pajama pants as they were. They had polka dots on them. Pink polka dots.

Eric smirked. "Watch this." He poked Anthony, who remained face down in his pillow (I've never understood how he breathes like that). "Hey, Anthony, Rose and I are going out for a sec."

Anthony grunted. He's not good before noon, and it was about four in the morning. "Whatever, dude."

Eric waited until we had shut the door of the cabin and were standing out in the dark to snicker. I frowned disapprovingly.

"You shouldn't poke fun at him like that. He probably thought you were Jack." I suddenly remembered how Eric and Anthony had been friends for so many years. "You know how he is in the morning."

He scowled. "Anthony and I just kind of fell apart."

"And you and Daphne 'fell apart' too?"

His scowl faded, and he looked hurt. Whenever Eric is unhappy, he looks like a lost puppy, with big brown eyes and tousled blond hair. It's hard to resist, but like I said: inner bitch, here.

"What do you want, Eric?" I sighed.

"Just to talk, Rosie." He grinned, while I pursed my lips into a thin, hard line. "I've missed you, Rose."

"Daphne's missed you, too." I narrowed my eyes.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Have _you _missed me, Rose?"

I scowled. I dragged out the silence for as long as I could, unwilling to admit the truth.

He looked at me expectantly.

"Yes," I said finally, exhaling, not having realized I had been holding my breath. "I missed you."

He grinned, and from there, things went from bad, to worse, to very bad, to deep shit.

**A/N: …BITCH.**


	17. Yes, Freddy, She Curses Now

**A/N: I went to the library yesterday, and I couldn't find two of the books I needed. It sucked.**

**Apparently, Edward Cullen's birth name is "Edward Anthony Masen." I'm totally stealing this guy's name. Anthony needs to die now. (Kidding. I love him to death. TO DEATH, I SAY! Er, that didn't convince you that I was kidding, did it?)**

**JACK – IS – THE – BEST – CHARACTER – EVER! **

**Thank you, my math teacher, for putting me in a group with two kids who got no work done, who later formed Jack and Gina. And Matt, actually. Thank you, so much, and dear God, Jack, thank you for not doing your homework. And for having such gorgeous eyes. God, I love those eyes…. (It's best to ignore me after this point.)**

**Freddy POV**

It felt almost awkward to be around Ker again. I had gotten used to the idea of never seeing her again, even though it was horrible to even think about.

We were sitting casually in the strawberry fields, talking about – big surprise – death.

"So remind me, how did you die?" I asked, clenching my teeth. I hoped she couldn't tell how relieved and pissed off I was at the same time.

She smiled. "The battle in Montana. I was stupid and didn't drop out, but I don't regret going... my friend Reed Winston was going to kill Nick, and…." She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her voice was quiet. "I just couldn't let him do that."

I leaned back on my hands, having had a crappy epiphany: She loved _Nick_, not me. And the crappier thing was, she'd _always _loved Nick, not me, and I'd known that. I'd grown up and eventually gotten used to that fact, but Persephone and Adrianna had convinced me that Ker and I were like Jack and Gina. I felt like an idiot. She didn't just snap out of her lifelong thing for Nick when I died. I had been fantasizing this whole reunion, and I'd been so way off the mark, it was humiliating.

She smiled amusedly. "So, how did you die?" Her tone was teasing.

I shrugged, struggling to hide my emotions from her. "Honestly? I don't know. I fell asleep on Ogygia – Rose was keeping watch. Then when I woke up, I was dead and Charon was demanding a drachma."

Her smile faded, and her mouth dropped open. "You mean… you really don't know?"

"Yeah," I said impatiently.

Her stormy black eyes widened, and before she was cut off, I saw the word form on her lips.

_Rose._

Oh, screw.

I didn't have the opportunity to freak out, because a daughter of Demeter walked by with a tall, skinny guy with brown hair. He looked seventeen or eighteen, maybe younger. The boy stopped when he saw Ker, and the daughter of Demeter stopped with him.

"Ker," he whispered, shocked. "Ker!"

"Reed!" A grin bloomed on her face and she stood up. "Reed, how've you been?"

Reed. Reed Winston. He'd killed her. They'd been friends, she'd said, and he had _killed _her. I felt a surge of anger, and a stupid need to punch this guy in the face.

He looked sheepish. "I'm really sorry, Ker."

She snorted. "I don't care. It doesn't matter. You didn't mean it."

She _didn't care_?

They were standing there awkwardly, and for a second they reminded me of Jack and Gina at about age thirteen when Gina kicked the Minotaur's ass to save Jack – they wanted to throw their arms around each other and start making out, but something stopped them. Like, maybe the fact that Jack was pretty pissed at Gina's record with the Minotaur.

"She's going to start killing Kronos now," I remembered him saying angrily. "She's _becoming my father._" Well, what he actually said was a bit more vulgar and barely printable. But the basic message was the same.

And he was right. If anyone at Camp Half-Blood could save the world, it was Gina Daniels, not Jack Chase. Gina, who wasn't anything special, but she'd torn the Minotaur to pieces four times. Four times in eight years. Jack hadn't ever killed the Minotaur, but he'd nearly gotten killed by it four times. Notice how his numbers match up to Gina's. Looking back on it, it seems like everything Gina ever did throughout her childhood was for Jack.

I shook my head to clear it. I didn't want to start comparing Ker to Gina.

While Reed and Ker stood there looking like a couple of idiots in love (which they weren't, trust me), I tried to calm down on the whole Rose thing. Ker hadn't even said anything – all I had was a name. Maybe she meant I had died, but Rose had tried to protect me. She could've meant anything. I had no proof. In fact, the evidence stood in Rose's favor. She was a really good person, and she genuinely liked me.

I was about to start screaming, and if I started, I would never stop.

I had to get out of there.

"I'm going to find Bella," I mumbled.

Ker turned her head to me and blinked slowly, as if she had to remember who I was or she'd forgotten that I was there. "Bella?"

"Bellatrix. Bellatrix Claire Johnson, daughter of Hecate. Remember?"

Ker blinked again. "Oh."

I bolted. I didn't even get a goodbye, but then again, neither did she.

I ran into Penelope on my way to the Hecate Cabin. Unfortunately, Nick was right behind her, and seeing him wasn't doing anything for my sanity.

Penelope smiled benevolently, the way she always did. "Freddy, it's so great to see you again."

Penelope Jean Goode is the most aware, observant, intuitive person I've ever met. Her whole being radiated tenderness, sensing that I was upset. She knew Gina loved Jack even before Gina herself did, and I'm going to bet that she was the same for Anthony with Nina.

Or me with Ker.

Or Ker with Nick.

I shook my head to clear my mind, and Nick grinned.

"Thanks, Freddy," he said, earnest instead of perceptive, unlike his sister.

"For what?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyed snap out of my voice.

"For doing what I didn't have the brains or the balls to do." He shrugged. "You brought Ker back to us when all I could do was mope around."

"We haven't seen her since she got back – she ran off with you before saying hello to any of us." Penelope laughed, then put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me sympathetically. "Take care, Freddy, okay? Go find Bellatrix. She's missed you."

I smiled, grateful for her tact. Then I dashed off to find Bella, thinking of her instead of Ker and Nick.

When Bella was ten, she'd been jumped by a few dracaenae. Endlessly powerful – someday she could exceed Gina Daniels – she'd killed one of them, but there were four more, and even Bella couldn't handle that. Camryn, Camille, and I had shown up around then, having been dispatched by Bunny – Persephone, not Bunny. She'd made a lot of changes to camp since Percy Jackson left and she took over, both good and bad. She sent out a little group of half-bloods to collect every time she heard about a new demigod.

We'd caught Bella half-dead in an alleyway, black curls sticky with blood and amber eyes burning with more fire than Nina's did. She was still screaming in rage and shooting blue sparks at the dracaenae. Camryn and Camille finished off the monsters – they'd been nearly fourteen at the time, and anyway, they sucked all the cool powers out of my parents before they could get to me. Camille had crazy Poseidon powers, and Camryn was a total monster with a sword. I stood by and quietly explained what was going on to Bella while my identical sisters kicked ass.

Bella was sitting outside her cabin, in a lawn chair with a glass of lemonade. She smiled when she saw me, amused. "Damn, where's the fire, Freddy?"

"Did you just… curse?" I sputtered. She never cursed. Her language was dainty, prim, perfect. She used to have a fake accent, too. I liked that accent. It was somewhere between French and Russian. I called it Bellatrixian – so creative, right?

She blushed. "Yeah. Rose says I haven't gone a day without cursing ever since you… died."

"Bella," I said breathlessly, suddenly remembering what I needed to ask her. "How did I die?"

She was sipping her lemonade, and her eyes widened. She spluttered. "You mean you don't know? We all thought you knew. Well, hell, so that's why that bitch is being so nice to you…"

I didn't even get the chance to say Rose's name. Bella cut me off.

"Yes, Freddy, she killed you. She cut your throat in your sleep. She was a coward." Her tone was sharp, hateful. Anger and hate for Rose burned in her eyes. She smiled a little. "I totally understand if you want to run off to yell at her now. She deserves it."

That's exactly what I did.

**Gina POV**

Feeling guilty and betrayed by Mila, I sat out in my favorite place to be alone in the entire camp – the strawberry fields. Being a daughter of Demeter, they were my kingdom.

I sat the way I always did when I was sad, with my knees to my chest and my arms hugging them close to me. My chin was resting on my arms.

So she was an assassin. Of course she was. And she was only here – not because she liked me, not because she wanted to protect her brother, but because she wanted to kill the son of Percy Jackson. Who I was, coincidentally, in love with.

I was never alone for long – I'm Gina Daniels, remember?

"Hi," Jack said hoarsely.

I looked up at him. "Did Matt-"

"Yeah." His voice was quiet.

I nodded.

He sat down next to me. "It sucks. It really, really sucks. On one end of the spectrum, I'm not my dad and people treat me like I'm _not _his son, and that sucks. On the other end, I _am _my dad, and I _am _his son, and people hate me for it." He sighed.

Then he said the stupidest, most obvious thing he could've possibly said, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. "I miss you, Gina."

I felt a lump in my throat, and I wanted to say, _What're you missing me for? I'm right here, stupid. I didn't leave – well, not for long, at least._

"I'm sorry I broke the empathy link," I choked out. I turned my head towards him. "Can we get it back?"

"I don't think so," he replied softly.

I buried my face in my arms. "I feel rotten."

He exhaled. "Well, sometimes I think… maybe it was, you know, for the best?" He winced.

I tore my head from my arms and stared at him incredulously. "HOW?"

He winced again – not because he was afraid of my reaction, because it really hurt him to be having this conversation with me. "Well, I've been watching Nina and Anthony lately-"

"Stalker," I teased.

He glared at me. "You know that's not what I meant."

I smiled. "Please continue."

He smirked. "The way the two of them look at each other…" He shook his head disbelievingly. "Face it, Gina. We'll never look at each other the way they do, and they've been dating for less than two weeks. We dated for six months." He stared at me. "Are you crying, Gina?"

I wiped my eyes. I hadn't realized they were wet. "No," I lied.

He grinned. "Regina Daniels, you're crying. You're crying over a _boy._"

"I'm five inches taller than you!" I snapped. Looking for anything else in my arsenal, I said without thinking. "I killed the Minotaur four times."

His grin faded. I felt even crappier than before. I'd taken a jab. "I'll leave you alone, Gina. Just let me know if you need me."

He left, and I buried my head in my arms again and sobbed almost as hard as I had in the Poseidon cabin when I thought Jack was dead.

He wasn't dead. He was alive, and I loved him more than anything, because he was the only family I'd ever had, and I knew he loved me too, but somehow we just didn't _work _together. Why the hell not? Why couldn't two people who loved each other just _be _together?

"I _hate _you, Aphrodite!" I screamed.

There was no answer. I stared at the sky for a long time. Then I buried my face in my arms again and cried for what I had lost – friendship, love, a family…

And all those things were bundled in a little package, five-foot-one, by the name of Jack Chase.

**A/N: I worship Hannah Senesh. She was a Hungarian Jew during WW2. We watched a documentary on her in history at the beginning of this year. SHE WROTE POETRY. The reason I mention her is that Gina's second-to-last line is partly inspired by Hannah's poem, At the Crossroads. Particularly the "cried for what I had lost" part, since, er, Hannah Senesh was way smarter than Gina. Too smart to mess up as royally as Gina. Read some of her poetry, it's really good. **

**Poor Gina. She's brought all this on herself, and it was really such a stupid thing to do, but I can't help feeling sorry for her.**


	18. Riding Eric Like a Pony

**A/N: I'm really starting to develop the characters for my dream-inspired original story, known now, in its infancy stage, as The Valerie Project. I'm pretty happy with it. I have three good characters and one okay one while I had three okay ones for a few months.**

**Gina POV**

While Rose was off sucking face with Eric (I personally wanted to say "riding Eric like a pony," but something in the way Anthony was looking at me stopped me) we were holding a meeting, very reminiscent of old times. Matt was sitting next to Anthony, since this whole meeting was held for him to explain himself and his sister to the leaders of Camp Half-Blood. We'd dragged up most of the cabin leaders (Nick, Camille with Freddy, me, Sage, Devon Handel with her sister Adrianna, you get the deal.) Anthony and Katy filled in for Rose, with Aiko standing in the doorway. Nina was sitting in the unoccupied chair next to Nick, probably the Hera Cabin chair. A purple-haired girl with a clear Justin Bieber fetish, and her friend, another girl I didn't recognize, sat between Camille and Devon – the Ares boy's usual chair, since he had declined my oh-so-polite invitation.

"I'm speaking my piece for the half-titans," she declared, standing up. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Yoyo Smith. I'm not sure how a half-Japanese half-Titan chick got a last name like Smith, but it's how I roll." She grinned and sat down again.

Nina stared at her lap, but Anthony glanced at her and spoke up. "Yoyo, I think Nina can do that just fine."

Yoyo started to say something, but the brown-haired girl sitting next to her cleared her throat. "No. Nina's opinion is too tipped in your favor. We can't trust her to represent us."

Nina's eyes were spitting fire, and Anthony glanced at her again. She bit her lip and shook her head.

"Well, she still gets to hear this," he grumbled.

The brown-haired girl nodded graciously, then looked around the table. "I haven't met some of you, but I know your names. I'm Pilar Montoya." Her eyes turned to me and she smiled sweetly. "So you're Gina Daniels. Welcome back."

I nodded curtly, then turned to Matt. "Matt, you said there was a ringleader. You sounded like you knew her. Who's she? Any chance she'll come here herself?"

He grinned. "Yeah. Leanne Jackson."

He had barely uttered the name when the whole table exploded, except for Nina, Katy, Adrianna, Yoyo, and Pilar.

"_Leanne Jackson?_" Anthony demanded. Nina stared at him, looking half-horrified.

Matt looked very confused, while Aiko grinned.

"Jesus, I knew we wouldn't go forever without hearing from Leanne," she laughed.

"_Not funny, _Aiko," her brother snapped.

Leanne Jackson. The name sounded familiar.

"Who's Leanne Jackson?" I asked before Pilar got the chance.

I earned half of the table's incredulous stares.

"You don't remember Leanne Jackson?" Nick asked.

"Leanne was the female Eric," Camille added.

"She's also the love of Anthony's life," Aiko teased. Anthony glared at her.

Anthony silenced her with a glare. Then he turned to me, sending the occasional apologetic glance to a horrified Nina. "Leanne Jackson, evidently, faked being a daughter of Hermes. She hung around camp for years – actually, she and Camille were the ones to drag Aiko and me to camp."

"And me," Devon said, smiling.

Anthony grinned at her. "And you."

"Leanne and Anthony," Devon continued, "were great friends. When we found him and Aiko, he was a little scared, quiet ten-year-old. It's funny, how much he's changed."

Camille cleared her throat. "The same day we were dragging little Anthony to Camp Half-Blood – well, it didn't take much dragging, actually. Aiko protested, though. Anyway, the same day we got Anthony to camp, there was another kid named Eric just arriving with Penelope Goode and Anthony's older sister, Jackie something. They got here on the same day, and for five years they were tight, like this." She crossed two of her fingers, smirking slightly. I wondered if Poseidon smirked a lot.

"Leanne and Eric brought him out of his shell – and I helped too, if I do say so myself," Devon said. "We all knew Anthony and Leanne liked each other, I mean really, it was obvious. Around the time he was fourteen he asked her out – which is, in my opinion, rather early to date, but whatever – and she accepted. She dumped him a few months later, which really strengthened Anthony's friendship with Eric, especially after she disappeared." She glanced at Camille.

The daughter of Poseidon continued the story. "Around this time, Daphne popped up on Eric's radar. She came to camp when Eric was almost fifteen, and by the time he hit fifteen, she looked up to him with a sort of reverence. It was cute."

"Then _Daphne_ asked _Eric _out – quite amazingly mature for one her age, though Eric was mature too – and Eric started spending most of his time with her and ditched Anthony." Anthony blushed. Devon smiled sympathetically. "So Anthony started to retreat back into his little turtle shell, and then he met this amazingly pretty girl named Nina, and that brings us to the present."

"Okay, I'm not the jealous type, but I'm curious," Nina said, her expression of horror signifying that she clearly _was_ one of those girls who was going to whine about every **GIRL** her boyfriend ever dated, or at least a rough Nina-ish equivalent, because Nina was far from a whiner. "How many other girls have you dated?"

"The ones that lasted more than one date?" Anthony clarified. Nina nodded, eyes closed.

Devon spared him the duty of recounting the list. "Me-"

Camille cut her off. "Me."

"Isolde," Anthony said, after a moment of thought.

Devon smiled. "And Leanne. That's it… I think."

Camille nodded vigorously. "Yeah. You first, then Isolde, then me, then me dumped for Leanne, then Leanne, then a two or three year break, then Nina."

"If you don't count the adorable puppy-dog crush on-" Rose said, approaching the Big House.

"Rose, shut up, or I'll shave your head in your sleep," Anthony muttered. "Please forgive me, I was _ten._"

Nina didn't look mad, just like she had a lot she needed to process. "I'll be in the Aphrodite cabin if you need me."

Ker spoke up. "Nina, tell Reed and Senka that all the half-titans can sleep in my cabin. It gets lonely in there, and I have a feeling I'll be dragged back and forth from the Zeus and Poseidon cabins for a few weeks."

Nina smiled and nodded, then sprinted off. I admired her speed and her long legs. Anthony glanced apologetically at us, then followed her.

"Two down," Camille muttered.

Devon blushed. "Maybe we shouldn't have given her a list."

"It was only four," I argued.

Aiko and Rose were staring at me.

"What'd I do?" I demanded.

"Nothing," Rose said softly.

"Nothing at all," Aiko agreed. She looked at her sister. "I say we make another bet with Maia and Myrtle."

"We'll kick ass this time," Rose said, nodding.

"Is our money on Gina or Nina?" Aiko's slow smile was freaking me out.

"I want to say Gina." Rose was biting her lip, deep in thought. "I don't know."

"No," Camille said fiercely, shaking her head vigorously. "You can't do that to him. You two are being selfish."

Clearly there was something going on that I was missing.

Aiko and Rose glared icily at Camille.

"If you make that bet," the daughter of Poseidon growled, "I'll tell Jack you're hooking his girlfriend up with your brother."

Rose and Aiko glanced at each other, shrugged, and stalked off in an eerily identical fashion. Aphrodite's genes were strong in her children – I'd only met her once or twice, but she was everywhere in her kids.

Rose looked over her shoulder, and her eyes searched for Matt. When they found him, she said, "Tell your sister to bring Leanne down here."

Matt nodded, and Camille sank down in her chair, arms folded bitterly.

**A/N: I just had a great idea, and so I'm on top of the freakin' world.**


	19. Little Bunny Grew Up

**A/N: So, yeah.**

**Anna Cabot = the way I picture Maria di Angelo, except with red hair. YES, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY.**

**Gina POV**

Ker's mother had heard she was back in the world of the living, and was at Camp Half-Blood only a day after Ker was.

Nick and Freddy were hanging around by the entrance to camp when she pulled up, Freddy shooting Nick the occasional annoyed look. I was with Anthony, who raised one dark eyebrow when a sleek, dark car pulled up and an even sleeker, darker woman stepped out.

Anna Cabot was thirty-six, tall and slim, with a form-fitting black halter dress that hugged her waist and fell to her ankles, where feet peeped out from strappy black high heels. She was like someone from a movie, with a floppy black hat and dark sunglasses, so you couldn't see her eyes. Her hair was red, the same color as Ker's, tucked in a flawless bun just behind her head. Except for that red hair, she was nothing like her daughter.

Ms. Cabot surveyed the four of us as Hades got out of the driver's side of the car. Nick and Freddy glared at him questioningly, and he shrugged, looking sheepish.

Ker loped over, hands in the pockets of her black hoodie. She looked up and noticed her mother. "Mom," she said, clearing her throat. "Mom, welcome to Camp Half-Blood. These are Freddy and Nick, and over there are Anthony and Gina."

Ms. Cabot smiled benevolently. "Nick, Freddy, I've heard about the two of you. Nick's the blonde, correct?"

Nick and Freddy nodded.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Ms. Cabot," Anthony said, not seeming to know what else to say. "I'm Anthony Luck."

Ms. Cabot smiled again, almost amusedly this time. "Please, call me Anna. 'Ms. Cabot' makes me sound old." She glanced around. "Where's the little girl who called me?"

Ker looked surprised. "What?"

Anna frowned, a crease appearing in between her eyebrows. "A girl spoke to Hades and asked how to contact me. I don't remember her name, exactly."

"Adrianna," Anthony and I said immediately. Anna smiled.

"Yes, Adrianna. Adrianna Powers. She said I might know her older sister."

"Bunny." Freddy muttered the name with such loathing that Anna raised an eyebrow.

"What do you have against little Bunny?"

"Little Bunny grew up, Anna," Hades said quietly.

"Well, she can't have changed that much since I knew her well, Hades." It was surprising how casually she used his name. I couldn't even be that calm with my mother, and I'd always known who she was.

"Yes." He closed his eyes, his tone still quiet. "She can. She did."

Anna frowned again. "Well, I did know her. Does that help?"

"It's a start," Anthony sighed. 

**Rose POV**

Everyone was distracted with Anna when everything started to fall apart.

I was with Eric, and we were each leaning against a tree. It was ten at night, late enough that I could get out without causing a scene, but early enough that Anthony wouldn't think it odd that I was gone.

"Hi," I said, smiling seductively. I admit it; I was back up to my old tricks. I loved my old tricks.

He grinned. "Hi, Rose." His grin faded quickly. "Let's get to the point, tonight, Rosie – I have an offer for you."

I nodded seriously. "What kind of offer?"

"Do you want to come back to Bunny with me? She's really smart, and she has some really great ideas." He smiled, in the same seductive way that I had earlier. Eric and I were two peas in a pod. "And we could do whatever we wanted, whenever."

It was tempting. I liked Eric. He and I would've been unstoppable, if only I'd stuck with Persephone. Me and Eric against the only world we'd ever known…

Like I said, tempting.

I was seriously considering it, when I heard footsteps behind me. Eric looked up, and scowled.

He'd brought everyone. That stupid, stupid boy. He'd brought half the people I knew. My gaze swept over the group carefully. Jack, Katy, Gina, Nina, Adrianna, even Adrianna's sister Daphne, and, bringing up the rear – Ankita Riddle, daughter of Theia, and Lily Klein-Rhodes, daughter of Morpheus. They stood with their pinkies entwined, like sisters. Except for their milk-white skin, they were polar opposites. Ankita was black-haired, black-eyed, and wearing a black dress. Lily was white-haired, blue-eyed, and wearing her usual white turtleneck.

"Eric?" Daphne said, horrified.

Anthony grinned. "No one messes with my sisters, dude." He looked like he was going to punch Eric, or something, and I was probably going to stab him if he did that, but Katy was faster.

Next thing I knew, Eric on the ground, and Katy stood over him with her fist balled.

"YEAH, BITCH!" she screamed. "Who needs protection now, Jacky? WHO NEEDS YOU NOW?"

Eric was up in ten seconds – really, Katy wasn't all that strong, but she had the surprise on her side – but he just stood there. No retaliation.

That wasn't like Eric. There was something going on. He stood there, arms folded, clever smirk on his face.

And then, big surprise, Bunny stepped out of the trees, the silver on her bow glittering menacingly.

Why were we all so surprised? Maybe we just wanted to hear what she had to say. Who knows.

"At first, I was out for revenge," she said, shrugging as casually as if she were predicting rain. "I followed my heart, my anger, not my head. But Hades said something to me. He reminded me that when I was younger, I relied on my head. So I'm going to rely on my head this time." She stretched and un-stretched her bowstring absently. "I erased Jack out of pure revenge, anger, hatred. I'm going to erase the next one because I'm starting to figure it out. Who really holds this place together?" Then she paused for a moment, and laughed. "Oh, who am I kidding? I just want to hurt you all, and I'm looking for a one-way ticket to doing just that.

"Now," she mused. "I ask myself, who's the most beloved out of all of you? Certainly not Rose. Jack, maybe. But killing him would not be relying on my head. So I'm asking myself, whose death would be most tragic? Who has loose ends to tie up, with childhood crushes and their lovely ex-girlfriends?" She grinned wildly. "Gods, thanks for bringing her up here. She's like a small version of myself."

Anthony furrowed his brow, seeming to catch on.

Bunny cocked her head, and her grin widened. Her canine teeth were sharp, like a shark's. "In fact, here she very dramatically comes now."

"Eric?" Leanne Jackson ("no relation to Percy Jackson, thank you very much, I'll leave that to Jack," she would always say) blinked, confused.

Eric smiled. "Leanne."

"_Leanne_?" Daphne's mouth dropped open. She clearly didn't like the way Eric was smiling at her, and to be honest, I didn't either.

Leanne glanced around. "Eric, you didn't say you'd be throwing a party or…." She trailed off, and her mouth dropped open, green eyes widening. "Anthony."

Nina looked uncomfortable.

"Leanne," Anthony grumbled.

"Good God, is this a murder or a soap opera?" Bunny cried, annoyed that the attention had been taken off of her.

"Eric, I'm confused," Leanne said softly.

Eric smiled tenderly, gently. "Don't worry, Leanne. I'll explain everything, I promise." He put an arm around her, and she shrank into him. He shot a pointed look at Anthony, who was staring at the two with a strained expression.

Bunny grinned recklessly again, seeing her chance.

She aimed her arrow, very carefully, at my brother's chest. I started to hyperventilate. I knew daughters of Apollo. I had known them all my life.

They. Did not. Miss.

And she didn't, not really.

Something shot up out of the ground, and wrapped itself around the arrow before it could get anywhere near my brother.

**A/N: This scene is fun. Remember that great idea of mine? Here it is.**


	20. Oh, and What a Long Story it Is

**A/N: Funny fun fun fun…**

**Yesterday I bought my first music album. May 21, 2011. It's a day to remember.**

**TODAY'S MY FRIEND'S BIRTHDAY. Actually, it's also Anthony's.**

**Rose POV**

A vine. That's what it was. A thin, green tendril, shooting out of the grass and gripping the arrow.

The arrow only remained there for a split second before fire suddenly consumed it, and it combusted into ash.

The entire clearing – Bunny and Anthony and Leanne and everyone – was dead silent. No one could believe what had just happened.

When my body became functional again, I looked up, and Gina Daniels was in front of Anthony in a defensive position – arms crossed in front of her face, one of her small swords – Gemini, she called them, the twins – in one hand.

"Yeah, try that again, bitch." Gina broke the silence, smirking.

We were all startled, but Nina was paper-white.

"I was too late," she whispered. "I was too late…"

So it'd been her fire to burn the arrow. I hadn't known she could do that.

If Gina hadn't done what she did, Anthony would've been dead right then and there.

Nina wasn't the only one to be too slow. A brown-haired woman materialized between Bunny and Gina, her odd navy-blue eyes flashing furiously.

"Mom," Katy said, shocked.

_Mom._

She wouldn't have been able to save him, either. It was all Gina this time. It was always all Gina. Killing the Minotaur to protect Jack. Killing the Minotaur again to protect Jack. Smacking Sage around because she was being rotten to Jack. Killing the Minotaur again to protect Jack. Hating me because I had Jack and she didn't.

It was always for Jack, though, and this was all for Anthony.

Aphrodite grinned, in the same wild, reckless way Bunny had been grinning until Nina burnt her arrow. "Hi, kids! Miss me?"

"Whatever floats your boat, Mom," Aiko muttered under her breath. I hadn't noticed her there, I guess.

Aphrodite's attention was already on Bunny, whose smile was long faded. Bunny worked very hard at being beautiful, and she wasn't bad-looking, but she paled in comparison to my mother – young, vibrant, beautiful, and overflowing with hot, angry energy.

"Bunny, you can't kill him," she said, as if she were telling Bunny you couldn't fly or something. "He's my son. He's my _only _son. I didn't have children for years after my daughter Silena died, didn't you know that? Why do you think I chose to have children with Tony first?"

"Because he was a rotten drunk?" Aiko said loudly.

I remembered how once, back when Camille and Anthony were dating, she asked him why he didn't like (understatement alert) to be called Tony. He had claimed that Anthony was a much sexier name, but he'd been silent for the rest of the afternoon, while I chattered with Camille. We hadn't thought anything of it then, I guess.

Katy did a double take. "_What_?"

Anthony gritted his teeth and glared at his oldest sister. "Thank you, Aiko, for sharing that bit of information with _everyone._"

Aphrodite finally tired of listening to her children bicker and rolled her eyes. "Because he was special, Aiko. And you're too much like me. His son's all I've got left of him."

Anthony shook his head vigorously. "No way. No way in hell, Mom."

"Oh relax, Anthony, you've got enough of me that you're not going to end up in a gutter like he did." She made a face, then turned to Bunny again. "Like I was saying, Bunny, you can't kill him. He's my son. My only son. Even if his sexuality is still in question-"

Anthony was horrified. "_What_?"

"Honey, it's okay if-"

"Not gay, Mom."

"Well, sweetie, if you and Eric are partners, you can just-"

"Whoa, wait, leave me out of this!" Eric held his hands up in front of him, palms forward.

Nina interrupted. "Aphrodite, he's not gay."

"Well-"

"No, seriously, Mom," Aiko said. "He's not gay. Trust me. I'm a witness to his first crush at age ten, and trust me, _she's a girl._"

"Okay, fine, I give up," Aphrodite muttered. She glanced quickly back at Anthony. "But don't knock something until you try it."

Anthony turned even redder than Daphne.

Aphrodite finally turned around to look at Anthony and Gina. "Oh, I see it now." She smiled slowly, and her eyes found Gina. "Thank you, Gina." Then she disappeared, leaving Gina looking utterly confused.

Eric was fast. He wasn't going to stand around and wait for Nina to burn him to a crisp. A knife flashed in his hand, and a second later, it was buried in Gina's calf.

She sucked in her breath quickly, muttered a word that started with f and ended with uck and was not firetruck, and was wobbling, but she remained upright. Eric scowled.

Anthony and Jack reacted immediately, Anthony grabbing one of her arms to hold her steady and Jack running to her.

Bunny rolled her eyes. "I think we're done here. Leanne, Eric?" Her bored gaze flicked to me, malice glimmering in it. "Rose?"

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. Bunny smiled, then turned on her heel and stalked off, hips swinging. Eric followed her, bringing Leanne with her, his arm still around her comfortingly.

My attention returned to Gina, who was shouting curses.

"Holy mother of God, that hurts," she half-screamed. I felt locked to the ground. Gina Daniels, strong and brave and powerful and invincible, arms wrapped around my brother just to stay erect.

"You're supposed to stop the bleeding first, right?" Jack asked, his eyes scanning the group of kids.

"No," Adrianna said softly. "You've got to get the weapon out first. I don't think we can just yank it out. We have to get it out safely."

"Well how do we do that?"

Adrianna lowered her eyes and whispered something inaudible.

Jack stared at her, incredulous. "_What_?"

"I said I don't know!" Adrianna shouted, blue eyes blazing.

Jack was disgusted. "What kind of a daughter of Apollo are you, exactly?"

"I don't see you hurling water at people!" she snapped back.

Anthony glared coolly at the both of them. He and Gina clung to each other, Gina nearly suffocating him, whether because she needed the moral support or the physical support, who knows.

"Guys," he said, in an oddly calm voice, "you're not helping anything. Try to slow the bleeding first, at least. Put something around her leg, knife and all." His hand hovered near the edge of his shirt, quite ready to show off his abs to the world.

Good old Anthony.

"Boys," Adrianna muttered. "I'll handle it. I'm the daughter of Apollo, here." And then _she _peeled off _her _shirt, revealing the bright red bra underneath.

Jack's eyes lingered on her for a split second, which Gina noticed. Her swearing increased.

"You," Adrianna commanded, looking at Anthony. "Carry her to the infirmary. Gina, keep the damn shirt over the damn knife. Try not to move the damn knife. That would be bad. Actually…" She tore the blue scrunchie out of her hair and let her curls cascade around her shoulders. Jack glanced at her again, not that she noticed, which was rare. She shook her hair out quickly, then used her shirt and scrunchie to form a makeshift bandage for Gina's leg.

Evidently she moved the knife slightly, because Gina gasped quickly. Anthony's arms tightened around her. He looked scared crapless. He'd nearly been shot, and now he had a girl bleeding all over him, and he'd wanted to hold her like he was holding her now since he was ten years old, just under… slightly different circumstances.

Long story. Very long story.

**Gina POV**

When I woke up, I was in the infirmary, and Anthony was asleep in a chair next to my bed, his head leaning against the wall. Adrianna was examining herself in a mirror across the room, hair still down and devil-red bra still visible.

"I," she declared, clearly not knowing I was awake, "look like sex."

Actually, she did. I knew she probably didn't mean it this way, but she looked like someone you'd see on an ad for a prostitute.

And that's when she turned around. "Morning, sunshine. Like the present we left you?" She jerked her head towards Anthony, an amused smile on her face.

"How long has he been here? How long have _I _been here?"

"Since last night. It's about seven in the morning. You're in the infirmary."

"So this is what the infirmary looks like."

She smiled again, still amused. Then she realized I was mostly serious, and her smile faded. "You've never been here with an injury, have you?"

I shook my head. "Everything else was minor enough for me to take a few days in my own bed, at the most. Where's Jack?"

She shrugged.

"Why's Anthony here and not Jack?"

"Jack's too much of a worrier to be hovering over you, so I chased him off. As for Anthony, well, Nina dumped him, and he's been taking it hard."

I didn't know how to respond to any of that, and I was still groggy, so I didn't really even _understand _any of that, so I stared at my leg, which was under the white sheets. "What happened to Eric's knife?"

Adrianna flushed. "Devon pulled it out, but I've done everything else for you. Doesn't even hurt that much, does it?"

It was a dull throb, but nothing like the searing pain from the night before, so I shook my head.

Something in her collapsed in relief, and she sat down heavily in a chair. Her eyelids drooped. "I'm so tired."

Anthony yawned and stretched.

Adrianna grinned, her chin in her palms, elbows resting on her knees. Her curls fell and framed her face, making her look like a little angel. In a bra. "Morning, sunshine."

He looked at the clock above my bed and groaned. Then he turned to Adrianna. "You look _like sex_?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It's my new way to phrase 'sexy.' Sexy got old. 'Like sex' is the next big thing."

He rolled his eyes, then noticed me. "Hey, Gina, are you okay?"

"Well, I don't have a knife sticking out of me anymore, so compared to last night, I'm phenomenal," I replied, leaning back down on the three pillows Adrianna had piled up for me.

"I'm so sorry, Gina," he said miserably.

"For what?" I mumbled, eyes closed. I felt overwhelmed.

"For everything. For needing a fifteen-year-old girl to take a knife for me. For having a shitty ex-girlfriend. For having an even shittier ex-best friend."

I raised my eyebrows. I had never heard him curse before.

Something connected in my brain at a rather inconvenient time.

_Oh, gods, Gina, keep your mouth closed. Don't hurt him. He stayed next to your bed all night, God damn it all, Gina, don't-_

"Wait, Nina dumped you?"

He almost seemed like he'd forgotten about that, and he sighed heavily, looking even more miserable than before.

_Nice going, Gina._

"I think Leanne showing up was the last straw for her. She's too much like you."

"How so?"

"Jealous. Paranoid. Amazing."

I laughed.

He grinned and stood up, stretching again. "Jeesh, Adrianna, there's, like, ten beds in here, and you made me sleep in the chair?"

"I'm not carrying you to bed every night, Luck. I'm not your mommy."

"My 'mommy,' as you call her, never carried me to bed." He looked back at me. "I'm sending Jack in here. Don't let him suffocate you, okay? I'll be right outside if you need me."

"Still don't like him?"

"Still don't like him."

The first thing I noticed was that Jack and Anthony were vastly different, and not just because Anthony was over a foot taller than Jack. Anthony internalized his worries, if he had any, while Jack was visibly nervous.

I noticed him sneaking glances at Adrianna, and I narrowed my eyes.

Some music started playing outside, and Adrianna was across the room in two seconds. "Hey, is that Flyleaf? Which album is that?"

"_Memento Mori. _Lacey Sturm is a goddess," Anthony called back. Adrianna laughed, and Jack and I were alone.

"Hi," he said awkwardly.

"Hi."

"Can I ask you something, Gina?"

I was taken aback. He'd never had to ask me that before. "You can ask me anything, Jack. You know that."

He shrugged. "Why'd you do it?"

"What?"

"Take a knife for Anthony."

"Why is everyone calling it that? I didn't take anything for him. I used a plant to stop an arrow from killing him, and then Nina burnt it up. Eric wouldn't have thrown that knife if I wasn't there."

"You're avoiding the question, Gina."

I collapsed back on my pillows again. "I don't know, Jack. You know Anthony. He's as innocent as a seventeen-year-old boy gets. The worst thing he's ever done is 'defile Poseidon's younger daughter,' as Camryn called it."

"I didn't defile anyone," Anthony said loudly.

"Glad to know you can hear everything we're saying, Anthony," Jack snapped.

"Love you too, Jack."

"He's right, he didn't defile me," one of the twins' voices called. Camille, evidently. "Holy crap, that was funny, though. Cam just walks in and her jaw drops a foot…" She laughed. Camille's laugh is pretty. It's like tinkly little bells.

"When's my turn, Jacky?" she asked.

"Right now, Camille," he replied, standing up. "She's lying to me, anyway." He smirked. "You know everything, Gina, no matter how deep down it is in your brain. Just remember that, okay?"

He was interrupted by Adrianna's cell phone, which started off on a Madonna song.

"I'll get it," Jack said, diving for the phone across the room.

Adrianna listened for a second, then suddenly said, "Wait, what song is that? Is that Ray of Light?" When she entered the infirmary again, her eyes were as big as quarters, and she was shrieking, "No, Jack, don't-"

Jack had already answered the phone. "Hello?" He furrowed his brow. "Mrs. Daniels? Wait, how did you get this number? She called you? Why?" He listened for a second, and his eyes widened slowly. "Can we call you back? Thanks. Bye." He closed the phone and stared at Adrianna. "What the hell?"

Suddenly she looked much less confident in her angel-gone-bad look.

"You," he snapped, "are just like your sister. Going behind our backs? I bet you called Anna, too, didn't you?"

She nodded.

"Who else is on their way here?"

"Whoa, wait, what?" I shrieked, tearing my head off the pillow. "She's on her way here?"

"Mom and Ms. Masen," Adrianna said quietly, ignoring me. "Maria Cabot, Ker's aunt. I'm planning on getting ahold of Bianca di Angelo, too. I wish Nico was still around."

"Are you calling my parents, too?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Her eyes blazed. "Because maybe Bunny has a point. If I get your father involved, I'm stuck in the background." She raised her voice. "I want what he has! I want my children to come to camp, like you! I want them to be _plagued _by, 'Are you Adrianna Powers's kids?'"

Dead silence. Adrianna's confident aura had returned.

I was still hyperventilating. Stephanie _couldn't _come here. She couldn't. She was an invasion on my life, an insect I wanted to be rid of, and quickly.

Anthony glanced at me, and his eyes widened. "Are you okay, Gina?"

"Oh, she's fine," Camille said softly. "Why don't you three discuss the issue of Mrs. Daniels outside? I'll stay with Gina."

Anthony looked reluctant, but Jack dragged Adrianna out, hissing, "You are so dead, Powers."

"Go," Camille said to Anthony. "She'll be fine, I promise."

He went.

**A/N: Camille is one of my favorite characters. She's a genuinely good person, and never hurts anyone.**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOGGER :D**


	21. Percy Jackson is Not a Ginger

**A/N: STILL HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOGGER, but by the time I'm done with this chapter you might be eighty years old.**

**I really do apologize, but Book Three will be ending abruptly, to make way for Book Four, in third person omniscient, but focusing mostly on the worst couple I can possibly come up with… and no, Dogger, it's not the two who ****will**** be immaculately conceiving. ANTHONY JR... (well, technically the third, since our Anthony is Anthony Jr…) **

**IT'S ABOUT TIME THE GINGER GETS HER TURN… even though she's totally overdue for an ass-kicking. **

**Changed my mind. Ginger still gets her turn, but not her turn at who I planned on her getting her turn at.**

**One of the last questions on the Mary-Sue Litmus Test (what does "litmus" mean?) is, and I quote, "Do you view your characters more like tools than friends/children?" I always used to check that one off, because my characters were simply objects with traits, and I used their traits as tools to make whatever I wanted happen. Now, well, look at Freddy, Ker, Bunny, and Anthony – I chickened out of killing them all.**

**I downloaded a ton of music to my MP3, so now I have constant music instead of just listening to the stuff on my computer. **

**Freddy POV**

Ker's mother, Anna, had proven herself more than useful in our research of Bunny. Turned out Anna had known Bunny for the same five years she knew Hades before she finally had Ker, and Bunny in her late teens and early twenties was exactly what we wanted.

Luckily, Anna was talkative, because Adrianna was our chief interrogator, and she left Gina's side even less than Anthony did, and judging by Jack's jealous sulking, that was saying something.

"I met Bunny just after she arrived in the Underworld, a few months, maybe. She was twelve years old," Anna began. "Hades always told me of how he took a walk around L.A., and when he came back, there was 'a small, cheery blonde' sitting on his wife's throne." She laughed merrily. "'Hi, Hades! How are you on this fine winter morning?' Bunny was fourteen when I really got inducted into the world of Greek "mythology," and that's when she met Maria. My sister, I mean.

"Bunny hardly ever mentioned Percy Jackson. She seemed utterly happy, despite her prematurely aging appearance and the light fading from her eyes. I lost contact with Bunny when I was twenty-two, and she was…" She paused to think. "Eighteen?"

There was another pause, longer this time, and after a long while, Anna took a shuddery breath. It was an eerie break in composure for such an elegant, put-together woman. She pursed her lips in a hard, thin line. "She pressured Hades into buying her cameras, and she collected photos, adding to the ones from her childhood. She collected those pictures in a photo album. It was her one passion. She had hobbies, but that photo album is her life's work."

Camille leaned in, utterly intrigued, as if she was witnessing magic.

Camryn spoke before her twin got the chance to. "Please, for the love of Poseidon, woman, tell me you've still got that photo album."

Anna smiled, biting her lip playfully, like a little girl with a juicy secret. "As a matter of fact, I do. Maria was closer to Bunny than I was, so she's kept it all these years, until she moved out of our father's home. When he passed on, I took the album. I doubt Maria even remembers it." She tapped the white three-ring binder on her lap.

The binder looked like a child's creation – glittery lettering labeling the front _The Long and Interesting Life of Bunny Antoinette Parker. _It was a tragic reminder of Bunny's formerly childish nature, and how quickly she'd become a dark, rotted-out woman hell-bent on taking her revenge. I felt a tug at my heart – sympathy. I was sympathizing with the enemy. Great.

Anna silently handed one photo to Jack.

He gaped at it. "Holy crap."

I leaned over his shoulder to view the photograph. It was of a twelve-year-old Bunny, her arm around a kid who looked sixteen or seventeen, with black hair and green eyes. Besides the hair and eyes, he looked eerily like Jack, and come to think of it, he looked like the twins, too.

Anna smirked. "Sexy, am I right?"

Jack wrinkled his nose. "Um…"

Camryn and Camille ate the photo up. "IS-THAT-PERCY-JACKSON?"

Jack's eyes darkened.

"That's Percy Jackson, just after he met Bunny. She was closer to your mom, remember? I think it's right after he saved the world or whatever, too." She waved the photo away dismissively. Then she looked at Jack. "Please, for heaven's sake, tell me your name is not Jack Jackson."

He groaned. "Please don't bring that up ever again. We're lucky to have stopped Adrianna from saying it. We don't need to start her up again."

Anna chuckled.

Expertly, she flipped open the binder and scanned the pages, searching for something. Finally she took out a small photo and handed it to Jack.

Jack isn't smart, but he's smart enough.

He stared at the small square in his hand and sucked in his breath sharply, Percy Jackson forgotten.

"That's why Maria's late," Anna explained hurriedly, staring at the photo album in her lap. "She's looking into that specific photo."

"Let me see," Camille said softly. Jack, wordlessly, held up the photo so we could see it.

It was of a couple of little girls – six years old at the most. The one on the right was obviously Bunny – thick blond curls more disheveled than usual, blue eyes brighter, gray streaks in her hair nonexistent. The left one, however, was another case altogether.

She was about Bunny's height, an inch or so taller, but her hair wasn't at all like Bunny's springy curls. It was shoulder-length, ruler-straight, and red, closer in color to Adrianna's than Bunny's. Her blue eyes were sharper, and her eyebrows darker, but other than that, she was disturbingly similar to Bunny.

"Another daughter of Apollo," Jack said quickly. I wasn't so sure.

Camille looked doubtful. "But-"

"Another daughter of Apollo," he repeated firmly. "Just another daughter of Apollo. She means nothing."

He sounded like he was trying to convince himself, not my sister.

"Go show it to Adrianna," Camryn commanded. Her eyes flickered with something that seemed to say, _And while you're at it, go get your girlfriend back. We miss you, Jack._

**Gina POV**

"Jackpot," I whispered.

Anthony grinned. "We got lucky, didn't we?"

Adrianna nodded fiercely, her ponytail bobbing up and down. "You can say that again."

Recap: Jack had come to us with a photograph, seen Anthony, conveniently remembered he had something else to do, handed photo to Anthony, and run off.

Chicken.

"So what we're thinking is what, exactly?" I asked. I knew I looked stupid sitting in bed all the time (Adrianna wasn't letting me up for _anything_), and I didn't want to be misinformed. The least I could do was contribute verbally, if I wasn't allowed to compete physically.

Adrianna went from fervent-nurse mode to logical-strategist mode in less than a heartbeat. "I'm thinking of this in terms we know. Okay, we know half-siblings and we know full-blood siblings. This isn't a hugely reliable point to be making – I mean, really, you know how similar half-siblings look. You could see Freddy out on the streets and think he's Percy Jackson, and last I checked, Percy Jackson is _not a ginger. _But if you look at full-blood siblings, some of them are practically identical." She gestured to Anthony. "You and your sister. Same hair, same eyes, at least similar faces. Bonnie and Myrtle. Hack a few years off of Myrtle's age and stop straightening Bonnie's hair, and they're indistinguishable."

"What about Troy and Felix Day?" I quipped.

Troy and Felix were half-siblings, alright – Troy a son of Apollo, Felix a son of Hermes. They were connected by their mother, which was pretty unique around here.

Adrianna nodded. "Troy and Felix. You'd look at them and swear they were twins."

"I don't get why this matters," Anthony said.

Adrianna held up the photo with two fingers, so he could see it more clearly. "I know Jack Chase, and I'm willing to bet that by now, he's convinced himself that this is her half-sister. I don't know about you two, since you're both in love with the kid, but I'm willing to prove him wrong."

Anthony narrowed his eyes. Adrianna didn't seem to notice, and if she did, she didn't care very much.

"We have evidence," she continued. "Firstly, Bunny came to camp at age what?"

Anthony looked at me, exasperated. His eyes seemed to say, _Does she really expect us to know this?_

"Seven." Adrianna rolled her eyes. "Second, these two look crazy-similar. Third, Jack and Anthony are totally having a secret affair."

"I'm going to find Nina," Anthony muttered. He glanced at me, then left the room.

"I thought she dumped your sorry ass!" Adrianna shouted after him. She scowled. "He'll be back."

She was quiet for a while, tapping her foot impatiently, until I asked incredulously, "Are we seriously going to _wait _for him?"

She thought for a moment, then declared, "Gina Daniels and Adrianna Powers wait for no man. Men are worthless. Unless they're gay. Then they're sexy."

"That makes zero sense," Anthony muttered, having returned with Nina.

"Not gay," she said loudly, then turned, frowning, to Anthony. "Can I go now?"

"You wanted to be involved, right?" he asked sharply.

She blushed.

"So this is your chance," he continued.

"Great, so now Senka can't say we're hiding stuff from our half-titan 'overlords,'" I said brightly.

"Oh!" Anthony looked like he'd just remembered something. "Tell Adrianna your theory, Nina."

Adrianna looked intrigued.

Nina's face turned even redder. "I don't think we were the prophecy kids. It doesn't make sense. The world didn't exactly "fall" to fire. I'm a crappy fire, anyway."

"You can burn arrows to a crisp," Anthony grumbled. "That's more fire than I can do. Hell, I can't even work out my love life most of the time. Aren't I supposed to be able to do at least that?"

Adrianna clenched her jaw and balled her fists. "Well, that's just great. You're right, Nina, and I've been thinking the same thing, I'm just too much of a pussy to admit it to myself." She sat down heavily in a chair, and buried her face in her hands for a few minutes. Then she looked up, a determined fire in her eyes, and snapped, "It's time Percy Jackson got the hell out of the way."

The three of us were shocked silent, until finally Nina got tired of staring sideways at Anthony and left the room, shaking her head as if to clear it. Anthony watched her leave, and when she was gone, he sat in the chair next to my bed, and sighed heavily.

Adrianna's phone rang. Neither of us batted an eye – actually, I'm not sure Anthony even noticed – but Adrianna hopped up and listened to whatever the caller was telling her, blinking her blue eyes confusedly.

"She'll come around," I said softly to Anthony.

"Everyone's saying that about you, too, you know."

I paused and frowned. "Yeah, probably."

He laughed. "Probably everyone's saying you'll come around, or probably you'll actually come around?"

"The first one."

He grinned. "Poor Jack. You know, you don't see this, but you're quite a catch, Gina. You think Jack and Rose are the king and queen? No way. Rose is jealous beyond belief of you."

"_Why_?" I asked, bewildered and, secretly, quite pleased.

"Well for one, you're prettier than her, in my expert opinion. Two, you're blond. Three, you're tan. Four, you've got Jack Chase in the palm of your hand. Five-"

Adrianna's merry laughter cut him off. She was still on the phone. "My gods, what a small world it is, eh? Don't bother, I've got a girl feeding me cash, but off the top of your head, how much does a plane ticket from Minneapolis to New York City cost?"

Anthony trailed off and froze.

"Uh-huh. Okay, thanks. I'll tell them you said hi. Bye. Thanks so much for your help." She giggled again. "See you in a week."

Anthony turned around to stare at her while she snapped her phone shut and went back to writing something on a pad of paper and chomping on her gum.

She noticed us staring at her and seemed to remember something. "Oh, yeah, Anthony, your dad says hi."

**A/N: LOLYES WE ARE SO BRINGING TONY INTO THIS WHOLE BULLSHITTY MESS :D LOLOLOLOL… sorry, kind of tired right now. This is how I am when I'm tired.**

**Okay, I officially have no idea what I'm doing with the rest of this. So it might be awhile before I update, but I'm pretty sure Dogger is the only one still reading this xD**

**And I am planning a second series focusing on the children of some of our demigods today… and, of course, Gina and Adrianna will be fighting over Jack. Yes. It's magical. And I was going to say Adrianna's kids are just as screwed up as Gina's, but absolutely no one could be as screwed up as Gina's kids.**


	22. And Then Some

**A/N: I am very sorry I'm being so confusing. I'm basically all screwed up because I want to go deeper into almost every aspect of the story – Jack's relationship with Gina, Eric's long list of love interests, Bunny's… friend… from the photo (but she'll get her fair share, don't you worry), and a lot of the parents of the demigods, and also a bunch of childhoods of the demigods themselves. So far I'm pumped up for starting something centered on Anthony, and Gina is going to get her spot in the limelight as well. **

**By the way, Freddy, my hockey team beat your hockey team. LOLOLOLOLOL…**

**PART TWO**

**A couple days after the end of Part 1.**

**Adrianna POV**

"How can you be calmly reading a book after what you did, Adrianna?" Katy snapped at her step-sister, who was, by the way, yours truly.

I glanced up casually. "I don't see any reason to be alarmed, Katherine."

Katy looked like she was going to explode. "Jack _just _finished – _just _finished! – fixing _your _mess. _Just _finished taking care of your plans to bring Lucy and Mrs. Daniels and Ms. Masen here. _Just _finished shipping Sandi, Matt, and Mila back to Vermont. _Just _finished apologizing to Anna and Maria, who, by the way, is here."

I felt kind of bad. I knew Anthony had a strong dislike for his father, but I'd tossed that aside. See, turns out, Tony and Bunny have a… colorful… past. Small world, eh?

But Maria Cabot being here was a bigger deal than me having to clean up after Eric Taylor and Tony Luck. I loved Gina and all, but it wasn't earning me _any _points with Jack to chase him out of there every time he showed up, which, to be brutally honest, wasn't as often as I'd been dreading. He pretty much watched Anthony with open loathing now – well, more jealousy than loathing, but the envy was causing the loathing.

I had been lost in my thoughts, so I stared at her blankly. "Who's here?"

Katy sighed, exasperated. "Maria Cabot. Nina is dealing with her, since Anthony's long gone, and I'll bet Aiko went after him, and Nina will follow soon."

I narrowed my eyes. "I don't want the Titan chick dealing with our business." Nina's allegiance wasn't to us – it was to Anthony. Especially with their recent break-up, and Bunny placing the clear bounty on his head, I wasn't entirely sure how long she was going to stay with him – or how long he was going to stay with us.

Katy's entire face turned red, a sharp contrast to her dark hair. She's _so _defensive of _everyone. _She opened her mouth to retort, but I was already gone.

**JACK POV (LOLOLOL LOOK WHAT FOXXIE DID THERE)**

"You can go now," I said sheepishly, but trying to put as much ice and malice into the words that I could. "Sorry to put you all through that for nothing. Our tactician is kind of impulsive, so she's got this whole show running smoothly. Her definition of "smooth" is twisted."

Maria opened her mouth to reply, say something about what she'd found, most likely, but my new favorite person (or least favorite – depended on what Anthony did with his newfound freedom), Nina Kincaid, came sprinting up, her long legs

"Jack Chase, you stupid moron!" Nina shrieked. When she'd finally reached the top of the hill, she panted, "Wait! At least tell us what you've got. Please. We're begging you."

"Speak for yourself, Kincaid. I don't see your boyfriend here to protect you."

Nina's face darkened, and I felt a jab of guilt. "I don't need Anthony here. I can fold you like a pretzel, little boy, so you'd best shut your mouth."

I did as she said. She probably _could _fold me like a pretzel, considering the fact that I had to tilt my head up to look at her face. She and Anthony shared one thing, if nothing else: height. Adrianna was closer to me in height, and understood what I dealt with (well, except for a tall son of Aphrodite hitting on your girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend, or whatever), since she was a whole foot shorter than Anthony and Nina.

Maria finally said something, apparently tired of being silent. "I did find something, Miss Kin-"

"Nina."

"Nina," Maria corrected herself. "The redhead in the photograph?" she said, growing excited. "That's her sister. Her name's April. She lives in Boston at the moment, in a nice little apartment, only a few towns away from where Anna and I grew up."

I snorted, a habit I had picked up from Gina long ago. "Well, we knew it was her sister. What's her last name, though?"

I was in denial, and I knew that, but I couldn't admit it to myself. I was in denial of being in denial, if that makes any sense.

"Parker. April Dianne Parker. Mother is Dianne Parker, long deceased, father is Apollo, god of the sun. Fraternal twin sister of Bunny Antoinette Parker."

"That's not possible."

That was the main reason Gina and I ever argued: what's possible and what's not. Gina's not exactly an idealist, but she hates that I "shut yourself in your stupid little box, Jack."

I remembered Gina, the suckish night she'd ditched us for Artemis, how she'd left because I'd sided with Rose over her.

I missed Gina. Not only Gina Daniels Jack Chase's girlfriend, but Gina Daniels my best friend. My partner in crime. That Gina.

"It's true, though," Maria said stubbornly, reminding me of Adrianna and bringing me out of Gina La La Land.

"No, he's right," Nina replied coldly, surprising me. "It's impossible."

"Bunny doesn't have a middle name," I agreed. "She told my dad that. She wouldn't have lied to him."

Now Nina turned on me. "Jack, listen to yourself," she said wearily.

"She wouldn't have."

Maybe I was being stupid. Maybe I was just searching for a defense to my denial. But I knew Bunny, and something in the way she flourished when I handed her the phone with my dad on the other end made me think she respected him enough not to tell him a pointless lie.

Nina's face softened. "Jack, I know you're worried about Gina, but you know she'll be okay."

I hated her sympathy, no matter how right she was and how much I really needed it.

I gave up, and my shoulders slumped. "It's not her physical health I'm worried about. First of all, she's a total wreck, emotionally. Second of all-"

"She would have died for him but not for you."

She really hit the nail on the head with that one.

"Yeah."

Nina smiled wryly. "Don't think that's especially pleasing to me either, kid."

Looking back on it, we were being stupid. Gina _wouldn't_ die for Anthony because she _couldn't _die. She was simply incapable of death.

Finally, Anna cleared her throat loudly and nodded to Maria.

"Kids, I know you're Aphrodite's favorite playthings, and I sympathize – actually, I can empathize – but Maria here needs to see that little redhead you've got leading you."

"Leading us?" Nina and I exploded in unison, incredulous. I continued on to say, "_Leading _us? No way. We don't have a leader. We've got a makeshift council in the cabin leaders, but that doesn't include Adrianna."

"Look, kid, it includes the little blonde that got stabbed, so take my sister to the little blonde that got stabbed, why don't you?" Anna snapped. I scowled. Gina had been Demeter's cabin leader since she was twelve, but having her referred to as "the little blonde that got stabbed" wasn't helping my mood, or my ego.

Asking to see Gina was wise. If you asked yourself, "Who's gonna be the next big Percy Jackson" (the word "hero" has become obsolete, being replaced by "Percy Jackson") you end up with two answers: Adrianna Powers, our intellectual powerhouse, and Gina, who is, physically, the strongest person at camp by a landslide, breaking the stereotype of a girl hiding behind a boy. Actually, I'm kind of hiding behind her. And I am, in fact, a guy, a _very straight _guy, no matter what Adrianna says about "Jack and Anthony in the closet together, in more ways than one." Seriously, I have no idea where she got that idea.

Nina was, clearly, letting me decide whether or not to bother Gina.

"All right," I said finally. "Let's go see Gina."

xxx

I stared at where Gina had been last I'd seen her for a very, very long time, convinced I was seeing things.

_How did she even get in here?_ I thought. _Gina… c'mon, Gina, where are you?_

I missed the days when I'd have heard Gina's almost mocking laughter at the back of my mind, and her voice saying, _I'm right here, Jack. You know that. I'm always right here._

I missed those days when I would feel that deep, hopeless longing that ate away at her heart every time she looked me in the eyes, and the days when I'd wondered what the hell was wrong with her. Why she hated Rose. Why she felt rotten every time she looked at me. How and why, whenever I ran into the Minotaur, she was always there to bail me out.

And then I focused on Gina's temporary bed again, and remembered who was sitting on the edge of it.

Bunny Parker. She didn't seem to see me come in with Ker's aunt, because her face was buried in her arms, which rested on her knees, tucked close to her chest. Her entire tiny frame was shaking.

"You were right," she moaned. I was confused – was she talking to me or what? "You were right."

"Jack." Her voice was clear and bright, even though it should've been muffled by her arms.

Bunny wasn't the sweet, kind little girl Anna Cabot remembered. I knew that. But she was so _tiny_, sitting where Gina should've been.

It's not easy to pity Gina Daniels, at first glance. She's tall for her age – which basically translates to half a foot taller than me – and she has more muscles than most of the kids at camp. She can summon vines from the ground. She's starting to master poisonous plants, too. Basically, she's powerful, and she doesn't let anyone stand in her way, not physically. Mentally, she's been letting Rose and Adrianna toss her around for years. Well, technically, toss _me_ around, but whatever.

It was so odd how simple it was to pity Bunny, crouched on Gina's bed, curling up in on herself. She was evil, and I hated her, but I didn't really have a clear _reason _to hate her, I guess. I just hated her because I was kind of supposed to. Gina is, if you really know her better than she knows herself, the epitome of goodness, and I love her and all, but at that moment, I pitied Bunny more than I pitied Gina.

I was officially a pushover. Whatever that means.

"I overheard your conversation with Maria," she said softly, lifting her head. "Talking about us. Apollo and Dianne's little girls." She smiled sadly. "Not that he still loves my mom. She's long dead, isn't she? But no, he loves the Powers girl, doesn't he? Little Lucy Powers…" She shook her head in disbelief, then glanced at Maria. "Long time no see, Maria. Hades is still in love with Anna, isn't he?"

Maria nodded, looking shocked at the sight of Bunny after so many years. "Bunny… what _happened _to you?"

"I died." She smiled wanly.

I watched Maria take Bunny in – gray-streaked Apollo-curls, dead blue eyes, chipper expression erased, perky shoulders slumped. She was so small, smaller than me, and that was saying something. That was _really _saying something. She had to be half Anthony's size. Frail, childlike. Pitiable.

"You were right, Jack. You were so right, you smart little bastard. I didn't remember anything about April. I woke up at the entrance to Camp Half-Blood when I was seven. I had no memory of my earlier life. But you were right. I would not, and I did not, lie to your father."

Maria looked very, very confused.

I elaborated. "A month or so ago, when we were on our way to Montana, Bunny talked to my dad," he explained. "She answered the phone as Bunny Antoinette Parker, going on to say she didn't really have a middle name…"

"But it had a nice ring to it, didn't it?" Bunny laughed quietly. "I guess it was buried somewhere in my mind."

Anthony Luck opened the door. I scowled.

"Sorry. Hi, Bunny. Killed any babies lately?"

Bunny smiled. "I don't kill babies. You and your sister, of all people, should know that."

He furrowed his brow, clearly not understanding. I didn't think much of it. Bunny had a few screws loose. "Well, I'm looking for somewhere to hide."

Bunny cocked an eyebrow in sincere intrigue. "From what? The wrath of Gina Daniels?"

Anthony shrugged, avoiding the question. "You guys are missing dinner."

xxx

Tony Luck was thirty-four. His son had just turned seventeen, and he was _thirty-freaking-four._ Even Adrianna's eyes were bugging out.

Bunny, on the other hand, was on a whole different level of shock. She looked like she was going into cardiac arrest.

Bunny sucked in her breath sharply. "Anthony Luck, you are _so dead._"

It took me a second to understand, but then I remembered that our Anthony Luck was Anthony Luck, Jr., having taken his father's name.

The rest of the campers, however, were looking at Bunny. The Aphrodite table lifted their heads and stared at her, confused.

Rose wasn't there.

Bunny had crossed the pavilion and was standing over Tony, her fists clenched and shaking. Then she relaxed, and you could see her figure soften, her heart melt just a little bit.

"Tony," she whispered.

"Bun-bun," he replied casually.

"Still tall, I see, Tony."

"Still short, Bun-bun."

"Wait." Aiko Luck stood up, leaning heavily on the table. "You _know _each other?"

Tony nodded wordlessly.

"Why didn't you ever tell me, Dad?"

"You never asked. And you've met her, Aiko. You were…"

"I held you when you were a year old," Bunny said softly. "I went to school with Tony for my senior year, and then some." I didn't want to imagine what she meant by _that._ She smiled wickedly. "Little Anthony isn't so little anymore, is he?"

"He's six-foot-three," Aiko snapped. She threw her hands in the air. "Anthony was right, Dad. You suck." She stalked out of the room, and called over her shoulder. "I'm going to find my brother."

After she was gone, Aphrodite materialized beside Tony. I was, as usual, having trouble bringing her face into focus – it kept changing.

"That didn't work well, did it, Tony?" She frowned.

Tony chuckled. "Not exactly."

She rolled her eyes. "You can say my name, you know. Sound it out, Tony. Aph-ro-di-te. Say it. Aphrodite."

"I'd really rather not."

Aphrodite sighed.

As it turned out, Anthony had reappeared, watching from just outside the pavilion, Gina tucked under his arm. She shook his arm off her shoulder and crossed the large pavilion quickly.

Within ten seconds, she was shaking Aphrodite by her shoulders. "LEAVE. ME. ALONE."

It was, as incredibly manly as this sounds, heartbreaking. Gina was so messed up right now – I had been right when I told Nina she was an emotional wreck. Her feelings had always been internal, always so bottled up, me being the only person who could get past the firewalls in her brain. Too much crap had happened to her at one time, and the walls were falling down on her head. No, it was more like a bottle. Her bottle of emotions had cracks in it. Her walls were intact – you couldn't get through to her. But she was tender, soft. She was spilling open.

I glanced at Anthony, and noticed the same sorrow in his eyes as he watched Gina carefully. It was then that I realized how I'd been avoiding Gina. Seriously, she'd gotten _stabbed, _and I'd avoided her, leaving her in the hands of the same person I wanted to keep away from her. Great, now I sound like some insane possessive ex-boyfriend. Just fantastic.

Aphrodite sighed again. "Gina." She stepped away, and the girl swayed unsteadily. Anthony, who'd clearly anticipated her near fall, grabbed her waist to steady her.

"I can walk, Anthony. I can stand, at least," she snarled.

He raised an eyebrow, his chocolate-colored eyes showing his clear pity for her. "Can you, Gina?"

Could she? I had no idea. I hadn't exactly been bugging Adrianna for updates.

She took a moment to think about that. After a few minutes, she said, "Anthony? Can you promise me something?"

He smiled sadly. "Anything, Gina."

She gritted her teeth. "I want his head. I want to stake those pretty eyes of his. I want to shave off all that blond hair he's so proud of. I want-"

Oh. Eric.

"Gina." I finally spoke up, knowing full well I should've spoken up long ago. "Gina, we _all_ want to."

Anthony sighed. "The kid's right."

I looked around, realizing how right I was. Eric had abandoned Anthony. Betrayed Daphne. Tried to kill Ker and Katy. Even Camille, peaceful, pure Camille, had a glint of malice in her eyes.

Bunny was still staring down at Tony, who had remained seated through the entire ordeal (which was the only reason she was staring _down._)

Then, shaking her head, she followed the same path Aiko had and darted off into the night. Anthony followed a second later, bringing Gina halfway, then glancing at me, and leaving Gina with me.

"Hi, Jack," she whispered.

"Hi, Gina."

"I love you, Jack."

"Love you too, Gina."

"But we're not getting back together, are we, Jacky?" A smile played at her lips.

"Nope, Gina."

I smirked, and her smile widened into a grin.

**Adrianna POV**

"Get him up. I need him," I snapped at Nina.

Nina scowled. Anthony was sprawled out, his back leaning against his bed, staring at the little TV in the Aphrodite cabin.

She waved her hand in front of his face. His eyes remained glued to the screen.

I frowned, then leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

Nina frowned. "I'm not saying that."

"Say it! Say it!"

She sighed, stared at Anthony for a long time, and I followed her gaze. I felt an uncharacteristic pang of sorrow to see his usually warm brown eyes looking cold and dead.

"Anthony, I'm here to tell you something important. I'm a lesbian. I've been sexually involved with Gina for several weeks now, and I just thought you should hear it from me, because we are planning on producing a sex tape once her leg heals fully."

I giggled.

He finally glanced up. "Can I watch?"

She snorted, covering her mouth to hide her sudden laughter. "Anthony Luck, you are absolutely impossible."

He sighed. "Two down, two to go, eh? Unless you count Maia and the littler ones. Then you've got five to go, but whatever. And no one's sure he wants Katy. He doesn't know her well enough. Doesn't have the long, shitty history with her that he does with the three of us."

I frowned, confused. "What?"

He smiled at us, a sad, twisted smile. "Has Aiko shown up yet?"

"No. She said she was looking for you," Nina said.

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Certainly wasn't looking for me. I've been here the whole time. Is Rose gone, too?"

I nodded slowly. "I'm gonna go… somewhere else." I approached the door, swinging my hips, paused for a minute, tossed a "Use protection" over my shoulder, and slipped out of the cabin.

The minute the door shut, I flattened my body against it and peered in the window, hoping they wouldn't see me. If they didn't maul each other, I would stay. If Nina took her shirt off, I was out of there.

I'm a _spy_, not a _porn addict, _people.

Nina groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Forget you, Anthony, _she's _impossible."

He nodded, still staring at the TV. "We've been dating for how long? Three weeks?"

Nina sat down next to him, nodding. "Something like that. Two and a half, maybe." She glanced at the TV. "What are we watching?"

He laughed. "I lost track of that about fifteen minutes ago. I think it's a hockey game." Then he sobered and wrinkled his nose. "I'm a suckish older brother."

Nina's face softened. "No you're not. Why do you say that?"

"Because Eric is taking all my sisters, and I can't keep him away from them."

Nina shook her head. "I'm sure Aiko didn't-"

"Yeah, she did, Nina."

"But she has no reason-"

"She's mad. She gets stupid when she's mad. And she's had a crush on Eric since she was little, and take it from me, childhood crushes can get dangerous."

Nina pursed her lips and said no more.

My work here was done. I had what I needed. Wherever Aiko Luck had gone during dinner, she wasn't coming back here on her own. Rose, too.

The last thing Anthony had said intrigued me.

"Oh, Gina," I chuckled, peeling myself off the wall and sashaying off into the night.

**A/N: Oh, Gina, indeed. **

**LOLOLOL FREDDY IN YOUR FACE, I'MA WINNERRRR…**

**I actually have no idea whether we just beat Freddy's hockey team or not. Bruinsssss .o**


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